Faculty Directory
Indrani Saran
Associate Professor of the Practice
Indrani Saran
Sc.D.
Contact
McGuinn Hall 305
Telephone: 617-552-0197
Email: indrani.saran@bc.edu
Education
- B.A., Amherst College
- M.A., Yale University
- Sc.D., Harvard University
Research Interests
Behavioral economic theories applied to health decision-making; Evaluating complex health interventions, particularly in resource-constrained settings; and Quantitative research methods
Expertise
- Disparities
- Global Practice
- Child Welfare
Profile
Indrani Saran is Associate Professor of the Practice, Behavioral Research/Biostatistics at Boston College School of Social Work. Dr. Saran’s research draws on theories in behavioral economics and applies economic methods to understand how people make health decisions, particularly in the context of weak health systems. The goal is to better understand how to increase uptake of effective health technologies. Her research has focused on evaluating strategies to expand the access and use of malaria diagnosis and treatment tools in East Africa.
Dr. Saran’s published work uses data from randomized controlled trials to show how people use new information to update their health beliefs and make decisions about malaria treatment. Other work has examined broader health system issues such as the financial impacts of health care expenses for aging populations in India, and the preferences and motivations of volunteer community health workers in Kenya.
Dr. Saran is also interested in exploring issues of research design and statistical analyses of randomized controlled trials and observational studies, drawing on approaches from biostatistics, econometrics and epidemiology.
Selected Publications
Indrani Saran, Gunther Fink and Margaret McConnell. “How does anonymous online peer communication affect prevention behavior? Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment.” PLOS One. 2018. Nov; 13(11): e0207679.
Jessica Cohen and Indrani Saran. “The Impact of Packaging and Messaging on Adherence to Malaria Treatment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Uganda.” Journal of Development Economics. 2018. Sep. 134: 68-95.
Wendy Prudhomme O'Meara, Diana Menya, Jeremiah Laktabai, Alyssa Platt, Indrani Saran, Elisa Maffioli, Joseph Kipkoech, Manoj Mohanan, Elizabeth L Turner. “Improving rational use of ACTs through diagnosis-dependent subsidies: Evidence from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in western Kenya.” PLOS Medicine. 2018. Jul;15(7):e1002607
Laura Winn, Adriane Lesser, Diana Menya, Joy Noel Baumgartner, Joseph Kipkoech, Indrani Saran, Wendy P. O’Meara. “Motivation and satisfaction among community health workers administering rapid diagnostic tests for malaria in Western Kenya.” Journal of Global Health. 2018 Jun; 8(1):010401
Ting-Hsuan J. Lee, Indrani Saran, Krishna D. Rao, “Aging in India: Financial hardship from health expenditures.” International Journal of Health Planning and Management. 2017 Dec 12; 1–12 2
Indrani Saran, Elisa M. Maffioli, Diana Menya and Wendy P. O’Meara. “Household beliefs about malaria testing and treatment in Western Kenya: the role of health worker adherence to malaria test results.” Malaria Journal. 2017 Aug: 16 (1): 349.
Indrani Saran and Jessica Cohen. “Disparities between Malaria Infection and Treatment Rates: Evidence from a Cross-sectional Analysis of Households in Uganda.” PLOS One. 2017 12(2): e0171835.
Indrani Saran, Elif Yavuz, Howard Kasozi and Jessica Cohen. “Can Rapid Diagnostic Testing for Malaria Increase Adherence to Artemether-Lumefantrine?: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Uganda.” American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2016 Apr;94(4):857-67.