People
Dirgha Jibi Ghimire

Research Professor, Population Studies Center and Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research
Research Interests:
Dr. Ghimire’s research explores the complex interactions among social, political, economic, familial, and environmental changes, with a particular emphasis on their effects on public health, child health and socioemotional development, education, population mobility, and aging. He utilizes a life course framework and employs mixed-methods, multi-level designs, and advanced technology for innovative data collection.
As co-director of the long-running Chitwan Valley Family Study—a community and whole-family panel study spanning over 30 years—Dr. Ghimire has made significant contributions to interdisciplinary research and capacity building in low- and middle-income countries. His work emphasizes rigorous integration of research, methodological innovation, and the training of a new generation of scientists, all while fostering knowledge dissemination and informed discourse on challenges ranging from local to global scales.
Select Projects
- Interdisciplinary Research Training Program for International Population Science
- Improving Learning: Developing Measures of Accountability and Evaluating their Association with Students’ Gains in Achievement in Nepal
- Impact of relationship factors on physical and psychological health and wellbeing
- Family Migration Context And Early Life Outcomes
- Intergenerational Influences on Marriage, Contraception and Childbearing
- A New Population-Scale Approach for the Study of Psychological Stress in the Transition to Adulthood
Select Publications
- Mary Dwan, Chaudhary, Indra, Kubale,John, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Grace Noppert, Emily Treleaven. 2026. Feasibility of high frequency parent-reported respiratory and diarrheal symptom data for children under five in a pilot study cohort. Public Health in Practice
- Rai, Sauharda, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Rao, Deepa, Meyers, Stephen, Williams, Nathalie E.. 2026. Spousal separation and depression: a study of wives of labor migrants in Nepal. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care :1-13.
- Patel,Anoushka, William G Axinn, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire. 2026. The role of sanitary pads in school achievement in low-income settings. Social Science Research 138:103395.
- Heather Gatny, William G Axinn, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Brady Thomas West, Hermosilla, Sabrina, Pradhan, Saman, Dixit, Sameer, Chaudary, Indra. 2026. Bias in hair cortisol measures for psychological stress: Self vs. professional collection. Psychoneuroendocrinology 186:107775.
- Garrison-Desany, H.M., Lee, Y.H., Benjet, C., O'Connor, M., Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Smoller, J.W., William G Axinn, Denckla, C.A.. 2026. The unexpected death of a loved one and risk for onset of PTSD and depression in the Nepal Chitwan Valley Family Study. Journal of Affective Disorders 394:120522.
- Pallav Pokhrel, Uttam Sharma, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire. 2025. Self-Rated Health, Frailty, and Tobacco Use in a Community Sample of Adults from Nepal. Substance Use & Misuse 60(11):1748-1752.
- Choquette-Levy, Nicolas, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Oppenheimer, Michael, Ghimire, Rajendra, Ck, Dil. 2025. Retrenchment under climate-driven risks in subsistence farming communities. Population and Environment 47(2):1-35.
- Banchoff,Emma, William G Axinn, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Kate M. Scott. 2025. Intergenerational associations of maternal depression with daughters’ family formation. Journal of Marriage and Family 87(2):415-436.
- William G Axinn, Banchoff,Emma, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Scott, Kate M.. 2024. Parental depression and their Children’s marriage timing: The long-term consequences of parental mental disorders. Social Science & Medicine 347:116745.
- Dhakal, Usha, Briceno,Emily, Sharma, Uttam, Bogati, Umesh, Sharma, Abha, Shrestha, Lochana, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Mendes de Leon, Carlos F.. 2024. Health care systems and policies for older adults in Nepal: new challenges for a low-middle income country. Discover Public Health 21(1):1-7.