Profile
Manami Uechi currently leads the Medical Excellence in Asia initiatives and directs the Healthcare Research Unit at ERIA.
As a primary care physician, global health practitioner, and nutritionist, Uechi possesses extensive international experience in both clinical and academic settings across diverse geographical and sociocultural landscapes, including Japan, the United States, Central Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Her clinical training in resource-poor communities has heightened her awareness of the urgent need to address health disparities and inequities faced by the world’s most marginalised and vulnerable populations.
Uechi is a passionate advocate for health and social equity, and her research focuses on the intersections of food insecurity, malnutrition, and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs)—such as obesity, hypertension and Type 2 diabetes—affecting billions across the globe, particularly in low-income communities, among Indigenous peoples, and within other historically marginalised and underserved populations in both urban and rural areas.
Expertise
- Human Nutrition
- Nutrition and Diet Equity
- Food security and justice
- Diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
- Global Health Equity
- Social Determinants of Health
- Healthcare delivery
- Preventive medicine
- Indigenous Health and Wellbeing
- Migrants’ and Refugees’ Health and Wellbeing
Education
| 2020 |
Master of Medical Sciences (MMSc) Global Health Delivery & Health Equity Harvard Medical School, Harvard University |
| 2018 |
Academic Certificate Global Health Delivery Intensive Program Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University |
| 2016 |
Doctor of Medicine (MD) Universitas Indonesia |
| 2016 |
Program Certificate Global Health Entrepreneurship Program Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo |
| 2014 |
Bachelor of Medicine Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia |
| 2006 |
Bachelor of Science Nutritional Sciences College of Human Ecology, Cornell University |
Experience
Previously, Manami Uechi was the inaugural research fellow at the Institute for Global Health Policy Research at the National Centre for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM) in Tokyo, Japan, where she played a pivotal role in establishing the institute. In addition, she managed various projects aimed at enhancing healthcare services for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Middle East, as well as for migrant populations in Japan.
While pursuing her graduate degree at Harvard, she served as a Teaching Fellow in the Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship, where she taught undergraduate courses on global health equity and global public health.
Uechi continues to mentor young healthcare professionals and graduate students in health sciences who are eager to expand their career opportunities across diverse global clinical settings. Prior to joining ERIA’s Healthcare Unit, she worked at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Centre for Global Health, where she spearheaded initiatives to develop social and healthcare services, including a screening system for social determinants of health, at the MGH Asylum Clinic, serving asylum-seeking clients in the Greater Boston Area.