Associate Research Director Digital Health Strategy

Dr Sunny Mannava is an optometrist, public health researcher and health economist whose work connects eye health, economic evaluation and digital health. He serves as Associate Research Director at the Debapriya Mukhopadhyay Vision Research Institute & Foundation (DMVRIF). His research focuses particularly on the economic consequences of visual impairment, childhood eye health and the measurement of health-related quality of life.

Dr Mannava completed his optometry education at Bharati Vidyapeeth University and obtained his Master of Public Health from Salus University. His doctoral work at the University of Hyderabad examined The Economics of Childhood Eye Diseases and Developing and Testing of Quality-of-Life Utility Values. This academic background combines clinical knowledge with methods for evaluating the benefits, costs and wider implications of healthcare interventions.

His professional experience includes serving as a Programme Officer with Operation Eyesight Universal, followed by work as a business analyst before undertaking doctoral research. These experiences brought together eye health programme delivery, analytical work and public health research.

A central theme of Dr Mannava’s scholarship is the assessment of quality-of-life outcomes in children with eye conditions. He was the first author of Measuring Utility Values of Eye Conditions Among Children in India Using the EQ-5D-Y Instrument, published in Health Economics Review in 2024 with Rishi Raj Borah and B. R. Shamanna. The study estimated health-state utility values for childhood eye conditions and examined changes following intervention. These measurements support cost-utility analyses and help assess the value of investing in children’s eye care.

His doctoral research also addressed the cost-effectiveness of childhood eye health interventions in India. He presented this work at the 16th European Public Health Conference in Dublin in November 2023, within the conference’s health economics and health technology assessment track. The research received support from Orbis India, while his conference participation was supported by a University of Hyderabad travel grant.

Dr Mannava’s academic achievements include a Best Poster Presentation Award at the 2022 VISION 2020: The Right to Sight–India annual conference for his work on condition-specific utility weights for eye health outcomes. He also contributed to the report Cost-Benefit Analysis of Investing in Child Eye Health, released at the conference. In 2023, he was selected for the Australian National University’s Future Research Talent programme, providing an opportunity for international research engagement.

His research collaborations extend beyond vision. Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research lists him as a collaborating health economist in work involving the identification and rehabilitation of children with hearing and speech-language disorders in rural communities. This involvement reflects the application of health economics to broader questions of service access and rehabilitation.

At DMVRIF, Dr Mannava brings this interdisciplinary background to his role as Associate Research Director. His experience in economic evaluation, public health programmes and patient-reported outcomes offers a relevant perspective for research on accessible, effective and sustainable eye care.