Ajay Mahal is a Professor of Health Economics and Global Health Systems Research at the Nossal Institute for Global Health in the University of Melbourne and Professor at NCAER. From 2010 until 2015, he was the Alan and Elizabeth Finkel Chair of Global Health and Professor at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University.

Previously, he was an Associate Professor of International Health Economics in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to his appointment at Harvard, Dr Mahal was the Principal Economist (Human Development) at the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in New Delhi. His recent research has focused on evaluation of health system interventions.

Dr Mahal holds degrees from Columbia University (Ph. D in Economics, 1995) and the University of Delhi (M.A. (Economics), 1986; B.A. (Economics), 1984).