Faculty members from Amrita School of Ayurveda visited the University of Milan under the Indo-Italian project. Dr. P. Ram Manohar, Research Director at Amrita Center for Advanced Research in Ayurveda and principal Investigator of the project from India, and Dr. Anantharam Sharma, Associate Professor, Department of Panchakarma at Amrita School of Ayurveda and co-Investigator in the project, visited the University of Milan from November 15-21, 2017, and November 15-December 5, 2017, respectively.

Dr. P. Ram Manohar interacted with Dr. Antonella Delle Fave, principal Investigator of the project from Italy, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Milan and allopathic physician trained in Ayurveda and Prof. Nereo Bresolin, member of the Italian team of the project, Professor of Neurology at the University of Milan and Head of the Neurology Department at the Research Hospital Fondazione Policlinico, Milan.

The focus of the meetings was to develop a roadmap for the development of an integrated approach to treatment of neuromuscular disorders by taking into account the experience from a pilot study started in 2016, under the co-ordination of Dr. Antonella Delle Fave, in which Italian adolescents and young adults with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disorder, have been provided with internal and external Ayurvedic treatments besides the conventional rehabilitation interventions. Dr. Ram Manohar and Dr. Anantharam Sharma met all the members of the interdisciplinary team involved in the pilot study, as well as other officials, scientists and clinicians, to explore the ways and means to develop collaborations between Allopathic physicians, Ayurvedic physicians and scientists to achieve the goals of the project.

Dr. Ananthram Sharma is interacting with clinicians in the Neurology Clinic under the guidance of Prof. Nereo Bresolin to identify potential areas for integrating Ayurvedic treatment in specific diseases. He is also working on the development of a standard format for clinical documentation of the patients in which data can be effectively shared between the two institutions in Italy and India for research purposes. Dr. Ananthram Sharma will also interact with scientists in the Neurology Lab to identify advanced techniques like organoid models for in vitro studies.

Dr. Antonella Delle Fave and Dr. Nereo Bresolin visited Amrita School of Ayurveda from December 11-18, 2017, to further develop the research plan with inputs generated from the visit to the Ayurvedic and Allopathic hospitals at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.