WHO I AM
My name is Pragya Richa, and I am currently pursuing my MBA at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School with a focus on healthcare, innovation, and social impact. My background bridges healthcare practice, consulting, and community service. I was trained as a dentist in India, later transitioned into healthcare consulting roles in Dubai and the U.S., and now combine those experiences with my academic journey.
My Journey as a Placemaking Leader
Who I Aspire to Be
I see myself as a bridge-builder someone who translates empathy into systems change. Growing up in India, where my father ran an old-age home, I learned early that placemaking begins with human connection. Later, as a dentist and then a healthcare consultant in India and Dubai, I began to understand how policies, patients, and people are woven together.
Today, as an MBA student at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a participant in CityLab Catalyst, I aspire to create healthier and more compassionate cities. I believe in bridging the gap between human being and being human using education, innovation, and empathy to re-design how communities live and care.
Learning from Places, People, & Data
Through CityLab Catalyst, I have learned that data tells one story, but people complete it. Exploring Baltimore through literature, policy reports, and neighborhood walks helped me see how numbers and narratives meet and where they don’t.
Baltimore’s data made the inequalities I saw in East Baltimore impossible to ignore. According to the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance (2024), life expectancy in some East Baltimore neighborhoods is under 69 years, compared to 83 years in wealthier areas like Roland Park. Nearly 22% of Baltimore residents live below the poverty line, and over 60% of renters are cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of income for housing. These numbers became real when I walked down cracked sidewalks, saw boarded windows, and noticed residents lining up for dollar stores.
At the same time, I explored Johns Hopkins Hospital’s role as both a healthcare anchor and a community symbol. The contrast between the world-class hospital and the unmet needs just beyond its walls made me question how systems of care can be both accessible and just. My CityLab readings on placemaking and urban health from the Baltimore City Department of Planning’s East Baltimore Revitalization Plan (2022) to RWJF’s “Achieving Health Equity” framework showed how structural barriers like housing, education, and transportation shape health long before someone meets a doctor.
Through this experience, CityLab’s five learning pathways are becoming lived lessons.
Integrity reminds me to be honest and look at uncomfortable truths and not hide behind data that flatters success.
Equity pushed me to recognize how design and zoning decisions affect whose stories are told. Justice demanded that I think beyond policy to power ,who makes decisions, and who is left out.
Freedom came alive when people shared ideas for how they want their communities to grow, not just survive.
These insights have shaped how I prepare to lead. I now see leadership as an act of synthesis bringing together data, dialogue, and dignity. I am learning to design healthcare and community initiatives that are not only measurable but meaningful.
What worries me and What inspires me
What worries me most is how disconnected everything feels sometimes. Healthcare, housing, and education often run on their own paths, and the people who need them most end up getting lost in between. I have seen this in Baltimore, right next to Johns Hopkins Hospital, there are blocks where families struggle with basic needs. The data only tells part of the story: in some East Baltimore neighborhoods, more than one in four people live below the poverty line, and life expectancy can be ten years shorter than in wealthier parts of the city. But numbers can’t capture what it feels like to see an elderly person waiting for a bus in the cold or a child walking past boarded-up houses to school.
In India, it’s a similar story, just with different colors and sounds. I have met women who walk miles for healthcare, mothers who skip meals so their children can study, and families who rebuild their lives every monsoon season. It’s not that help isn’t there, it’s that systems rarely meet people where they are.
And yet, every time I begin to feel discouraged, I meet someone who reminds me what hope looks like. In Baltimore, groups like Civic Works, Strong City Baltimore, and The Baltimore Community ToolBank are quietly transforming lives , planting trees, teaching skills, and creating safe spaces for neighbors to gather. In India, organizations like SEWA, Pratham, and Goonj show that even the smallest efforts can change generations.
These moments remind me that communities already hold the answers. They just need someone to listen, connect, and help amplify their voices. My inspiration comes from the resilience I see around me every day, in the women who create, the elders who teach, and the young people who still believe they can make a difference. That’s the world I want to help build, one where systems care as much as people do. And I am already working for my social impact venture in this direction.
Building Stronger Futures
MY VISION FOR LIVABLE FUTURE
I envision my work in healthcare consulting and innovation as a platform for a livable world where access, dignity, and voice are not privileges but rights. My social-impact ventures, Sudha Setu India Foundation and EthosSudha Global, aim to connect public health, livelihood, and education across cultures.
Sudha Setu is my bridge to rural India: a network that empowers women through livelihoods, health awareness, and digital literacy. In villages across Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, we are trying to be setting up micro-labs and packaging hubs where women can earn sustainable incomes while producing goods rooted in their culture. Alongside that, we are working to bring mobile health kits and community health ambassadors to remote populations so that care, trust, and information can reach the last mile. Our venture is still in idea stage, but we are getting there.
EthosSudha Global, my U.S.-based initiative, focuses on the other side of the bridge designing voice-first, multilingual healthcare navigation tools for seniors, caregivers, and low-income families who struggle to understand insurance or Medicaid. The goal is to simplify healthcare access through empathy and technology to make sure that language, age, or income never stand between a person and the help they need.
For me, livability means that care travels the last mile whether through a telehealth call to a rural woman in India or a compassionate interaction inside a Baltimore hospital. My goal is to create systems that listen, heal, and empower.