Sunetra Gupta is a novelist and Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology at Oxford University with an interest in infectious disease agents responsible for malaria, HIV, influenza and bacterial meningitis. She was awarded the Scientific Medal by the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award for her scientific research. Her novels have received the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Southern Arts Literature Award, finalists for the Scrabble Award, and long list for the Orange Award and the DSC South Asia Literature Award.