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 is Principal Investigator of the Indo-Italian Bilateral Project jointly funded by DST, GoI and Ministry of Science, Italy to develop integrative treatment protocol for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He is participating in Cancer initiatives for development of integrative oncology in collaboration with Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences and National Cancer Institute, USA. He was invited speaker and moderator for the session on Ayurveda and Integrative Oncology in the Trans NCI-NIH Virtual Conference on International Perspectives on Integrative Medicine for Cancer Prevention and Cancer Patient Management held in October 2020.

Publications

He has to his credit more than 100 publications, including research papers published in peer reviewed indexed research journals as well as contributions in chapters for books.

Awards

He was honoured with the Ayurveda Marga Pravarthaka Award by the L. Mahadevan’s Ayurveda Foundation in 2014 and Vaidya Sundarlal Joshi Smriti Sodha Puraskara by the Mahagujarat Medical Society in 2015. He also received the Bharadvaja Puraskara Award from Poonthottam Ayurvedashram in July 2016. In 2017, he was honoured with the Dr. C. Dwarakanath Memorial Award by IASTAM. He was co-author and PI on Indian side of the research study on rheumatoid arthritis that won the Excellence in Integrative Medicine Research Award from European Society of Integrative Medicine in 2012. In 2020, he received the Society for Integrative Oncology Scholarship.

Research Visits

He has made research visits to United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Latvia, Russia, Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, Singapore and Sri Lanka for the promotion of Ayurveda.

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 University. He also served as faculty in several institutions that are imparting courses and training in Ayurveda like University of Essen, Germany, Southern California University of Health Sciences, USA, European Academy of Ayurveda, Germany, and Ayurvedic Point, Italy. He is an approved guide for the PhD program in Ayurveda at Amrita University.

Honorary Positions

He is Research Advisor (History of Science) for Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Government of India. He is Member of the Scientific Committee of National Institute of Ayurveda. He is member of the WHO Expert Group for development of International Standard Terminologies for Ayurveda. He is also member of Working Group of Niti Ayog for formulation Education Policy in Integrative Medicine. He is research advisor for Central Sanskrit University. He serves as member of National Health Systems Resource Centre, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for integration of AYUSH in Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Clinics. He is Member of School Board, School of Research in Ayurveda, Kerala University of Health Sciences. He is member of AYUSH Interdisciplinary Task Force for COVID-19, Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India. He also served in the Kerala Task Force for AYUSH response to COVID-19. He served as member of Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) and as research advisor for Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS).

Media Appearances

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. Recently, he featured in the Veggie Channel, Italy and spoke on the evolution of vegetarian diet in Ayurveda.