Dr. Padma Venkat

Dr. Padma Venkat received the prestigious Cambridge-Nehru Merit Scholarship to undertake PhD at University of Cambridge, UK. She was awarded her PhD in the year 1990, for her study on the biochemical and molecular aspects of Bacillus subtilis spore germination. On her return to India she has used her technical training to develop new strategies in trans-disciplinary research (Modern Science & Ayurveda), to arrive at processes and products that have a societal impact.

Dr. Padma Venkat has been instrumental in setting up the Pharmacognosy Group at FRLHT from scratch in the year 2001. The annual budget of the group has grown since then from Rs. 10 lakh to ~Rs. 1 Crore, through 20 projects and several customer based services (product development, testing and training). The group began with a basic Chemistry and Microbiology facility. Today it has not only strengthened its instrumentation and analytical facilities, but also added on Molecular Biology and Plant Microscopy components that are valuable to Pharmacognosy. She has obtained several research grants from funding agencies such as DST, MoEF, TATA, Ford Foundation and the National Geographic Society. From the very first year, she had taken on consultancies to industries and developed 25 contemporary nutraceutical & cosmeceutical products such as herbal drink, herbal soups, Ayurvedic cookies etc.

She is an accredited PhD guide by Manipal University and awaiting accreditation from SASTRA University, Tanjore. She has guided three PhD students in 2008-09. She has published several scientific and general articles and has 2 patents to her credit. Dr. Padma Venkat has demonstrated her administrative and management capacity as a Joint Director and Head of Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutics & Pharmacology Group of FRLHT. She plays an important role in the organisation's management as Member, Governing Council and Executive Board of FRLHT.

Mr.Darshan Shankar

Darshan Shankar started his professional career in 1973, at the University of Bombay, as the coordinator of an inter-disciplinary center for development research. At this center he conceived, designed and implemented a pioneering action-research programme, which provided graduates of any discipline a 2-year fellowship to live in a rural community and apply their formal learning to a real life situation. This programme won a "Commonwealth Award" in 1976, being adjudged as the best project in the Commonwealth, for linking university education to community needs.

Between 1980 and 1992, he lived and worked in a tribal area in Maharashtra.

In 1993, he founded the Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions.

In 1998, he was awarded "Norman Borlaug Award", for his contributions to promoting conservation of medicinal plants, and in 2002, FRLHT was awarded the "Equator Initiative Prize" by the United Nations.

In 2003, the Columbia University's Centre for Complementary & Alternative Medicines gave its first International Award to Darshan Shankar & FRLHT, in recognition of FRLHT's outstanding contributions to revitalization of traditional systems of health-care in India.

Mr D K Ved

Mr D K Ved is one of the senior most serving Indian Forest Service officers. He has his expertise in forestry surveys and remote sensing, Medicinal Plants Conservation Programmes and databases, and eco-distribution mapping of medicinal plants.

He has worked in different positions, from the level of Assistant Conservator of Forests to the Chief Conservator of Forests, in the Indian Forest Service for more than 30 years; including over 10 years in FRLHT's medicinal plants conservation projects.

He has a Bachelor's degree in Mech.Engg. and is an Associate of Indian Forest College

DR. G.G.Gangadharan

Dr. GG Gangadharan, a practicing Ayurvedic physician - is currently a Joint Director at Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), based in Bangalore, India. He is considered an expert on authentic Ayurvedic methods of diagnosis – specially the pulse diagnosis and treatment, and successfully treats lifestyle disorders. He has dedicated himself to education of Ayurveda and promoting use of Ayurveda and local health traditions at the grass root level in rural parts of India.

After getting his MD in Ayurveda, he joined Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, Coimbatore where he was involved in manufacture of traditional Ayurvedic formulations – classical as well as proprietary. As a technical director at Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, he continued to practice Ayurveda and actively lead many initiatives to promote Ayurveda and use of medicinal plants. He is working as a senior advisor on many committees in both government and private bodies - dedicated for education and promotion of Ayurveda and medicinal plants.

He served as an editor of a well known journal of Ayurveda in India - “ANCIENT SCIENCE OF LIFE”. He has supervised development and publication of 10 Monographs on Local Health Traditions(LHT) and Ayurveda which made significant contributions to the revival of ISM and LHT in India. He has co-authored 4 books on medicinal plants and has 20 research papers to his credit.

He is a fellow of Ashoka Innovators for the Public of Ashoka Foundation and recipient of awards for the best International Awareness Building on Ayurveda from Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, Coimbatore in 2008 and for proficiency in clinical application of Ayurveda Shastra from Vaidyaraj Datar, Panchaboutik Chikitsa and Samshodhan Kendra Sangli, Maharashtra.

He has given many invited lectures on Ayurveda, across many countries including Germany, UK, USA and China – mainly on topics related to treatment of lifestyle diseases, Panchakarma treatment and promoting use of herbs in primary health care.

Currently he is pursuing PhD, in diagnostic and treatment protocol on Vatha Raktha, with Tilak Ayurveda Vidyapeeth, Pune, India.

Bhushan Patwardhan

Professor Bhushan Patwardhan has made innovative, outstanding and original contributions both in education and research. As a member of the Senate, Academic Council, Management Council and various Boards of Studies at the University of Pune, he has provided noteworthy visionary thought leadership. His research career has been equally outstanding, including globally acclaimed contributions to Ayurveda, ethnopharmacology, herbal drug technology and drug discovery. His pioneering work has led to many important national projects. He is ranked in top authors of Elsevier’s SciTopic most popular pages, Journal of Ethnopharmacology and Oxford Journal ECAM. A summary of his papers has resulted in 779 citations with Scopus h index 17. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine. He has been a major contributor to several government initiatives and is a member of many high-level academic, government and civil committees. He promotes industry academia cooperation and practices participatory corporate governance. He has developed many novel student centric programs by involving various stakeholders, to ensure that the academic, teaching and research activities are relevant to societal needs.

Dr. Haridasan. K

Ph.D North eastern Hill University (NEHU). 1982, Plant taxonomy. Propagation and plantation, germplasm conservation

Dr. M. Abdul Kareem

Ph.D. Bharathiar University 2009 Medicinal plants, Community education (Conservation) Community health and HHG

Suresh H.M

B.Sc. Forestry. UAS Bangalore. 2001, NTFP and Community resource management, Capacity building

Ms. Arpana B.

M.Sc. Ecology. Pondicherry University 2007 Ecology and environment, Sustainable harvesting, GPS

Dr. M K Vivek Sanker

BAMS 2001, MD (Ayurveda) 2005

Clinical Practice of Ayurveda, PG on preventive interventions for Ischemic Heart Disease, currently gaining expertise in Whole System Trials on Ayurveda

Dr. R.C Bharadwaj

BAMS. RGUHS, 2002 MSc(Clinical Research ) Cranfield University. UK 2006, Clinical Research

Dr. S. Jayanthi

BAMS (1990) and MSc in IT (2003), Development of Software Tools for Ayurveda

Dr. Ashwini V Konnur

BAMS, RGUHS, 2008; YIC, SVYASA, 2008

Clinical practice of Ayurveda, Certified practitioner of Yoga, Reiki and Pranic Healing

Dr. Reena M

BAMS, RGUHS, 2007; YIC, SVYASA, 2008

Clinical practice of Ayurveda and Yoga

Dr. Muralidhar R

BAMS, RGUHS, 2009

Clinical practice of Ayurveda

Dr. Shruthi C

BAMS, RGUHS, 2008

Clinical practice of Ayurveda