Faculty Bio

Professional Positions

He is presently serving as Research Director at Amrita Centre for Advanced Research in Ayurveda (ĀCĀRA) attached to Amrita School of Ayurveda managed by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. He also participates in academic activities at Southern California University of Health Sciences, USA European Academy of Ayurveda, Germany, and Ayurvedic Point, Italy, National University of Rosario, Argentina. He is an approved guide for the PhD program in Ayurveda at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

Honorary Positions

Current

1. Research Advisor of National Commission for History of Science, Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Government of India
2. Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, National Institute of Ayurveda, Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India
3. Member, Committee for Development of International Ayurveda Terminology for ICD-11, World Health Organization
4. Member, Advisory Committee, Central Sanskrit University, Government of India
5. Member, Interdisciplinary R&D Task Force in AYUSH for COVID-19, Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India
6. Member, Working Group for Integrative Health Systems Education Policy, Niti Ayog, Government of India
7. Scientific Advisor for the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA), Russia

Past

1. Member, Scientific Advisory Group of Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Government of India.
2. Member, Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), Government of India
3. Member, Program Advisory Committee, National Health Systems Resource Centre, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India
4. Member, Sub-Committee for Public Relations, Scientific Communication and IEC for International Cooperation, Dept. of AYUSH, Government of India
5. Co-Head of the International Network for Development of Research in Ayurveda (INDRA) operating with its headquarters in Italy, Europe
6. Member, Task Force for AYUSH response to COVID-19, Government of Kerala

Projects

He was the Principal Investigator on the Indian side of the National Institutes of Health, USA sponsored research study to scientifically evaluate the efficacy of Ayurveda in rheumatoid arthritis which was conducted in collaboration with the University of Washington, Seattle, University of California, Los Angeles and AVP, Coimbatore under the leadership of Daniel Furst, MD, eminent Rheumatologist. The outcomes of this study was published in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases and Journal of Clinical Rheumatology and won the prestigious Excellence in Integrative Medicine Research Award from the European Society of Integrative Medicine. This study was recommended as a blue print for future studies on CAM by Dr. Edzard Ernst, a vehement critic of Complementary and Alternative Medicine.He has spearheaded the clinical documentation program called RUDRA and also established the first online indexing service for Ayurveda research papers called DHARA. He has served as Principal Investigator on projects granted by the Department of AYUSH, Indian National Science Academy and the Coconut Development Board. He served as the Principal Investigator in the Integrative Approaches for management on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Spinal Muscular Atrophy – Researcher Exchange Program funded by Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale, Italy from 2017 to 2019.

Research Journals

He serves in the Editorial Board of the Indian Journal for History of Science published by the Indian National Science Academy which is indexed in Web of Science. Under his editorial leadership, Ancient Science of Life became the largest PubMed indexed research journal in the field of Ayurveda. He also served as the Chief Editor of Abhinava Dhanvantari, the new edition of the first journal for Ayurveda from Kerala published in the early part of the 20th Century. He served as a member of the Editorial Board of Global Advances in Health and Medicine.

Research Conferences

He has participated in 25 major international conferences and more than 100 national conferences. He served in the Communications Committee of the 4th International Research Conference on Integrative Medicine and Health (IRCIMH) held at Miami, Florida in May 2014. and 6th International Conference on Integrative Medicine and Health (ICIMH) held at Las Vegas in May 2016. He served as the Head of the Scientific Committee of International Research Seminar on Ayurveda (IRSA), the third edition of which was held at Milan, Italy in September 2016.

He was Invited Speaker and Moderator, Trans NCI-NIH Virtual Conference on International Perspectives on Integrative Medicine for Cancer Prevention and Cancer Patient Management organised by National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, United States from 27-30, October 2020. He was Invited Speaker, Ageing and Health Promotion in Ayurveda. Talk during the Convention “Interventi si promozione dell’attività fistic ā per un” at University of Milan, Italy in October 2018. He participated as Invited Speaker, “How Ayurveda can nurture and Integrative Approach to Health Care” during the Ayurveda and Yoga Conference at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore in January 2018. He was invited speaker at the 2nd AYUSH Integrative Medicine Conference held at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA in May 2017. He delivered a lecture titled, “From Bench to Bedside: Research on Cancer in Ayurveda at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham”, on May 23, 2017, at the National Cancer Institute, Shady Grove, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Invited Speaker, “Vegetarianism in Ayurveda” VegMed 2016, Frei Univesity, Berlin, Germany from 22-24 of April, 2016. He participated as resource person at the 22nd Cochrane Colloquium in the sessions on CONSORTIA Guidelines for reporting clinical trials in Ayurveda held at Hyderabad International Convention Centre from 21-26 of September, 2014. Invited Speaker, “Strategies and methods of research for scientific evaluation of Ayurveda”, International Scientific Network – Fostering India Latvia Cooperation, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 29 May 2015. Invited Speaker, “Experience and Evidence in the Ayurvedic management of Rheumatoid Arthritis”, 2nd All Russian Ayurveda Congress, People’s Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia from 8-9 of April, 2015. Invited Speaker, “Notions of Clinical Evidence in Caraka Samhita”, World Sanskrit Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 30 June 2015. Invited Speaker, “Ayurveda in the World” International Conference on Ayurveda at Mar Del Plata, Argentina in November 2015. He presented papers at IRCIMH 2012, Portland and IRCIMH 2014, Miami. He also delivered lectures at the 4^th as well as 6th European Congress on Integrative Medicine (ECIM) held at Berlin in 2011and 2013. He presented an invited talk on Methodologies applied to assessing the safety and risk assessment of natural products in traditional practice at the Toxforum Meeting organised by The Toxicology Forum at Brussels in October 2010. Invited Speaker, “Asian Diversity in a Global Context” – Panel on Transmission of Sanskrit Medical Literature in India, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, 12-13, November, 2010. Invited Speaker, 9^th Oxford Conference on the Science of Botanicals, University of Mississippi, Mississippi, USA, 12-15 of April, 2010. Invited Participant, “Workshop on Reading Classical Ayurvedic Texts”, November 3-6, 2004, London being jointly organized by the University College London and The Wellcome Trust. Invited Speaker, “Medical Manuscripts in Kerala : A strategy for cataloguing, preserving and critically editing important medical texts”, at the Workshop ‘Towards the Critical Edition of Classical Ayurvedic Texts’, organized by Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, November 2003. Invited Speaker, “The meaning of tradition and innovation in the contemporary practice of Ayurveda”, International Conference on Traditional Asian Medicine (ICTAM), Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany, August 18 to 24, 2002. Invited Speaker, “Ayurveda Today”, Wellcome Symposium on Traditional Asian Medicine – Traditional Medicine in the Modern World, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London, November 1995.

He has been featured in the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in USA in a documentary titled “INDIA – A SECOND OPINION” highlighting the scope of Ayurveda in chronic diseases. He was one of the anchors in the documentary on “THE JOURNEY OF AYURVEDA” produced by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. He also made a brief appearance on German TV channel RBB for the documentary “HOW HEALTHY IS VEGETARIAN DIET”. He was interviewed by BBC Radio 4, London on the theme “HERBS, PILLS AND POTIONS”, broadcast and webcast by BBC Radio. He was also featured on Doordarshan Documentary Serial “AYURVEDA- MEDICINE FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM” co-produced by the Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (Cbe) Pvt Limited. [PBS Frontline World Talk]

He was also featured in the INDIC TALKS on the topics Psychology in Ayurveda and Ayurvedic Concepts of Nutrition, an initiative of the Centre for Indic Studies, Indus University. [Psychology in Ayurveda Part 1] [Psychology in Ayurveda Part 2]

He was interviewed by Veggie Channel, Italy for his views on Ayurveda and Vegetarianism, based on his lecture at VegMed 2016, International Conference held at Berlin, Germany. [Vegetarianism Interview] [Vegetarianism Lecture]

He gave a talk on Placebo from the Ayurvedic perspective which was aired by UYH Radio, UK. [Placebo Talk] [Placebo Talk Radio]

He has been interviewed by Rajiv Malhotra, Infinity Foundation for the Series on Non-Translatable Terms in Sanskrit on topics like Ayurveda and Science of Balance, Prakrit i≠ Constitution/Body Type, Dosha ≠ Humour, Vaidya ≠ Doctor.

He was featured in the Series Ayurveda Covid Conversations hosted by Intellectual Kshatriya

He has been interviewed by the Ayurveda Network, Benares Hindu University for a lecture series on varied topics like Ama, Dosha, Sthana, Research Roadmap – Ayurvedic Perspectives Part 1, Research Roadmap – Ayurvedic Perspectives Part 2, Successful Ageing Part 1, Successful Ageing Part 2 and Parkinson’s Disease