Lalita Kaligotla

Dr. Lalita Kaligotla is an associate professor at The Ohio State University College of Nursing and serves as Senior Director for Leadership, Policy Engagement and Innovation. With extensive experience at the intersection of higher education, health policy and innovation, Dr. Kaligotla is committed to preparing the next generation of nurses to lead transformative change across health care systems and communities.

Dr. Kaligotla’s work centers on designing and implementing experiential learning models that empower nursing students and professionals to engage directly with real-world health and policy challenges. Her courses and programs integrate adaptive leadership theory and practice, human-centered design and applied policy analysis, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and preparing nurses to become effective advocates, innovators and leaders.

Leadership, policy development and innovation are not abstract concepts; they directly impact patient care, health outcomes, organizational strength and community resilience. By preparing nurses to be strategic thinkers and policy-engaged leaders, my work helps build a more responsive, innovative and equitable health care system.

She leads initiatives that amplify the role of nursing in shaping policy and in advancing individual, institutional and systems-level improvement. She is particularly interested in how nurses and other health professionals can drive innovation, seek and implement policy solutions and advance sustainable change through evidence-based approaches.

Her scholarly and pedagogical interests include:

• Policy innovation and systems change in health care and higher education
• Interprofessional and interdisciplinary education
• Workforce development and leadership development
• Civic engagement and social innovation
• Curricular design and learning assessment

Dr. Kaligotla has been a catalyst and a collaborator on projects that bring academic, governmental and community stakeholders together to co-create solutions to complex health and social challenges. Through her work, she champions a vision of nursing that is future-facing, policy-informed and deeply connected to the communities it serves.

Dr. Kaligotla holds a doctorate in Higher Education Policy and Leadership from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and a master's in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, India. This interdisciplinary academic foundation informs her holistic approach to leadership development, policy engagement and curricular innovation.

She is currently expanding her portfolio of policy engagement and community innovation initiatives at the College of Nursing -- deepening partnerships, elevating nurse leadership in policymaking spaces, and preparing students to lead with purpose, creativity and systems-thinking.