Dr. Astrid Lobo Gajiwala is a feminist theologian, writer, activist and pioneer in the field of tissue banking in India. She has a doctorate in Medicine and specializations in Tissue Banking and Biomedical Ethics. As a woman in the Catholic Church she played a key role in the genesis of the Catholic bishops (CBCI) Commission for Women and helped draft the CBCI Gender Policy of India. She is a resource person for the Asian Bishops on issues related to gender, feminist theology and inter-religious marriage. Currently, she is on the executive committee of International Catholic Reform Network (ICRN) and Secretary of Ecclesia of Women in Asia (EWA), a collective of Asian women theologians. She is a member of Indian Christian Women's Movement (ICWM) an ecumenical group that supports initiatives for gender justice and equality, and 'Sisters in Solidarity' (SIS), that supports women survivors of clergy sexual abuse. She is featured in Women in Leadership: Success Stories from Around the Globe, a “Global Women Leaders Project”.
She has a doctorate in Medicine and specialisations in Tissue Banking and Biomedical Ethics. She has represented India at the UN for an IAEA Inter-Regional Project on Tissue Banking for almost two decades, and is the first woman to be elected President of the Asia Pacific Association of Surgical Tissue Banks. She also served as Director of the Government of India’s Regional and State Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation, and continues to be active in the field, promoting and assisting in the establishing of tissue banks in the country. Her pioneering work in tissue banking has been featured in the Limca Book of Awards.