Dr. Sayeed Unisa is a distinguished Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology with over three decades of experience in teaching, research, and mentoring at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS). At the time of her superannuation from IIPS, she was serving as Head of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology.

Her academic contributions extend internationally; she has been a Visiting Professor at the International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, and a Visiting Researcher at the University of Sydney. She has also held the position of Adjunct Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, School of Research Methodology.
Dr. Unisa is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and an active member of several prestigious organisations, including the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), the Nutrition Society (UK), and the Asian Population Association (APA).

A dedicated mentor, Dr. Unisa has guided 25 PhD scholars and more than 50 MPhil and Master’s students in their dissertations. Her research portfolio spans 20 large-scale cross-sectional, impact evaluation, and longitudinal studies funded by leading organizations such as UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank, the Ford Foundation, and the Government of India.

Her pioneering work on maternal and child nutrition, reproductive health, gallbladder diseases, and sex ratio has been widely recognized. Notably, she received the prestigious Royan International Award from UNFPA and the Royan Institute for her contributions to infertility research.

Her scholarly contributions include six books and around 117 papers published in refereed journals and edited volumes. She has presented her work extensively in India and across 21 countries, and has chaired sessions at major international conferences organised by justify and APA.

Dr. Unisa serves as a member of research and ethics boards across institutes, medical colleges, and health organisations. As a technical expert, she has provided critical inputs on maternal and child health, nutrition, and educational issues to several Indian ministries and international agencies, including the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), UNICEF, and WHO.

She has played key roles as coordinator, monitoring committee member, and advisor for large-scale national projects such as the District Level Household Survey (DLHS), National Family Health Survey (NFHS), India Human Development Survey (IHDS), and Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS).

At the heart of her work lies a clear purpose: to strengthen population health and advance gender equality through rigorous, data-driven research evidence.

M.Sc. in Statistics and Master of Education, Osmania University, Hyderabad

M.Phil and PhD in Population Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai.

Specialised training in Reproductive Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Subject Taught at the Master’s/
M. Phil and Pre-PhD level:

Statistical Methods for Population Studies, Bio-statistics and Epidemiology, Statistical Methods for Population and Health, Gender Issues, Reproductive Health, Research Methodology, Qualitative- Quantitative Mixed methods, Sampling, Population Projection, Fertility and Mortality, Statistical packages like SPSS, MortPak, and Spectrum