Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) is led by its Director, Dr Umakant Dash. Prior to joining IRMA, he was Professor & Head of the Department of H&SS, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Adjunct Professor, Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli.

He holds a DHS in Health System Management from Tulane University, USA, and a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He has nearly two decades of experience in academia and research with institutes of national and international repute like Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Utara University of Malaysia, and Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani in areas such as Macro Economics, Financial Economics, Health Economics, Financial Management, Energy Economics, and Derivative Markets. He pursues questions of equity, efficiency, and risk protection in the Indian Health System through his research projects, funded by organizations like DFID, Rockefeller Foundation, World Health Organization, and Access Health International. He is also involved in collaborative research (through CREHS, GHLC) with other partners from countries like South Africa, Thailand, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, and the UK.

He is a published author in referred journals like Journal of Health Management, BMC Public Health, Journal of Health Research, The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, International Journal for Equity in Health, etc. He is an active public policy expert and has been a member of various committees and expert groups of the Government of India.

IRMA has highly qualified and experienced faculty members on its full-time roll and also adjunct faculty members. Majority of faculty members are Ph.Ds/Fellows from top national and international institutes and universities. IRMA Faculty include some of the best academics with rich corporate experience. Experienced faculty members from reputed national and international institutions collaborate to inspire and create the thinkers of tomorrow for a better world.