About
Dr. Kritika Baral
Medical Doctoral · Researcher
Clinical Informatics Specialist (CIS)
Department of Health Informatics
Kathmandu University
Dhulikhel, Nepal
About me
I am a researcher in health informatics whose work integrates epidemiology, climate science, and machine learning to characterise the spatiotemporal drivers of communicable disease in low-resource settings. I am currently completing a Master of Science in Health Informatics at the Department of Health Informatics, Kathmandu University, with an anticipated graduation in summer 2026.
My thesis applies a four-model machine-learning framework — Random Forest, XGBoost, a Multilayer Perceptron, and a Weighted Ensemble — to predict district-level typhoid incidence across Nepal under projected climate-change scenarios. The framework integrates national outpatient surveillance from the Health Management Information System (HMIS), gridded climate reanalysis from ERA5-Land and CHIRPS, and national flood-event records from the Disaster Risk Reduction Portal. A companion research manuscript presents the same analysis in a tightened, three-model form anchored on XGBoost as the operational headline.
My broader research interests lie at the interface of climate adaptation, public-health surveillance, and operational early-warning systems for climate-sensitive infectious diseases. I am particularly interested in the translation of methodological research into field-deployable public-health tools — including the operationalisation of DHIS2-integrated risk alerts, district-targeted WASH investment decisions, and the integration of climate indicators into Nepal’s National Adaptation Plan 2021–2050.
Across the work I prioritise reproducibility: every figure and every number reported on this site is regenerable from the source data and the open-source pipeline that accompanies each publication. The intent is to make the scientific reasoning auditable end-to-end, so that the conclusions remain inspectable to anyone who wishes to verify them.
Additional information about my work can be found in the publications and projects sections, which offer deeper insights into the research questions I investigate and the methods I employ. For inquiries, potential collaborations, or to share thoughts, feel free to get in touch by sending me a email.