Associate Professor — Northern Michigan University. An institutional ethnographer studying how health and social policy is actually carried out — in clinics, welfare offices, and grassroots organizations — across India, the UK, and the U.S.
A brief overview of research focus, academic background, and current standing at Northern Michigan University.
Vikash Kumar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at Northern Michigan University. His research uses institutional ethnography to examine how health and social policy is enacted on the ground — not as it's written, but as it's actually carried out by frontline health workers, program administrators, and grassroots organizations.
Much of his published work traces the implementation of integrated health programs in Bihar, India, including drug procurement under national NCD initiatives, leprosy elimination services, and mental health service delivery — asking why well-designed policy so often falls short in practice. A parallel line of work looks at social development and displacement, including refugee resettlement in the UK and the changing landscape of child trafficking in northern India.
He also writes on social work education itself, examining how policy advocacy and questions of social class are taught, discussed, and enacted within the profession. He teaches across the department's undergraduate and graduate curriculum, with an emphasis on research methods, policy analysis, and program evaluation.
Three threads that run through current projects, from applied tool-building to institutional study.
Tracing how integrated health programs are implemented on the ground in Bihar, India — including NCD drug procurement, leprosy elimination services, and mental health delivery — to understand the gap between policy text and local realities.
Studying the social connections and resettlement experiences of refugees in the UK, and the evolving landscape of child trafficking in northern India, with an eye toward policy and practice implications.
Examining how policy advocacy and social class are addressed within social work curricula and scholarship, and how grassroots organizations practice advocacy in practice.
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Graduate and undergraduate courses taught in recent academic terms.
Introductory undergraduate survey of the social work profession, values, and fields of practice.
Undergraduate course examining individual and family development within social systems.
Undergraduate course on frameworks for analyzing the design and impact of social welfare policy.
Graduate course covering qualitative and quantitative research design for social work practice.
Graduate course on the design and planning of social welfare programs and policy interventions.
Graduate course on methods for evaluating the implementation and outcomes of social programs.
Open to inquiries from prospective graduate students, collaborators, and colleagues interested in educational technology or comparative higher education research.