Expertise in: Public health, health rights and social development.

Brinelle D’souza is Chairperson, Centre for Health and Mental Health, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Her areas of expertise are public health, health rights, marginalization, and health and health activism. She has directed projects at the state and national level in collaboration with UN-AIDS, UNDP, USAID, the National AIDS Control Organization, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare & the Global Fund to Fight Against AIDS, TB, and Malaria, Geneva. Brinelle D’souza is the Co-Convenor, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan – Mumbai, the local-global People’s Health Movement chapter.  Through its various advocacy efforts, JSA- Mumbai has been critical in improving access to medicines and health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has also been at the forefront of legal activism in the context of TB Drugs seeking government use of compulsory licenses for two patented anti-TB drugs - Bedaquiline and Delamanid, used to treat MDR and XDR TB patients.

Brinelle is a member of the State Mentoring Committee, Community Action for Health under the State Health Mission, Government of Maharashtra, and the National Coordinating Committee, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, India. She is also deeply engaged in issues related to minority rights and civil liberties.