Alok Mathur is the additional deputy director general in the Directorate General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. He joined the Ministry in 2010. At present, Alok is a focal point for the National Mental Health Program and the National Program for Palliative Care. Before taking up this current responsibility, he had also worked for the implementation of cancer control and tobacco control programs in the country. He is interested in planning, conceiving and executing strategies for promotion, prevention, and control of non-communicable diseases. Alok is a graduate in medicine and post-graduate in public health. He is a Fellow of Rethinking Care Toward the End of Life, in 2016.