2026
Ruma Bhargava
Founder and CEO
Samarpan
Ruma Bhargava is the Founder and CEO of Samarpan, a Forbes-recognized social enterprise driving education and women’s health across 250 schools and communities in rural and tribal India, reaching over 1.5 million people. A clinician and global health leader, she led the Health Initiative at the World Economic Forum, where she established Asia’s first digital health vertical in India harnessing AI to transform community health solutions and built the WEF’s mental health agenda, placing it on the global policy map.
She has also served at the International Federation of the Red Cross, heading emergency and staff health operations across 38 countries in Asia Pacific, and spearheaded India’s National Immunization Program, directly impacting 50 million children and pregnant women.The 2026 World Fellows
We are delighted to announce the 2026 Yale World Fellows. These 16 extraordinary individuals are leaders working in politics and public policy, global health, technology, environment, journalism, and the arts around the world. They include a Ukrainian journalist, a Chinese environmentalist, and a Kenyan orchestral conductor. “At a moment when norms are under strain and the international order is being rewritten, the World Fellows remind us that principled leadership still exists—and still matters,” said Emma Sky, director of Yale’s International Leadership Center, which houses the World Fellows program. “The world does not lack for problems or pessimists. What it needs are skilled, courageous practitioners willing to create new possibilities. The...Read More
