Prof. M S Valiathan
MS Valiathan received his MBBS from Kerala University and FRCS from the University of Liverpool, UK. He specialized in cardiac surgery at Johns Hopkins in USA. He was Director of the Sree Chitra Institute, and was first Vice-Chancellor of the Manipal Uni
Abstract: After uninterrupted practice from the time of the Buddha, marked by ups and down, Ayurveda remains a major national enterprise today. It continues to provide health care to millions, accounts for a large segment of professional education and growing herbal drug industry, and is recognised worldwide as Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It has become a bandwagon attracting cosmetics, dietetics and even tourism. Its encounter with Western Science began in the 16th century and the initial approach of European scientists and physicians to Ayurvedic practice was shaped by taxonomy which loomed large till 19th century. This period witnessed the endeavour of remarkable men such as Garcia da Orta, Van Rheede, Roxburgh, Ainslie and others and the birth of several scientific institutions in Kolkata. In the 20th century, a new window of exploration opened through pharmacological and toxicological studies of medicinal plants by RN Chopra followed by the rapid growth of natural products chemistry which gave India a leadership position in the World. Towards the end of the 20th century, molecular biology and immunology cast their mantle on Ayurveda, and these disciplines have placed powerful tools in the hands of investigators to study ancient concepts and procedures, which could not be done earlier. Ayurvedic biology is a new initiative comprising research projects which adopt this strategy and shows high promise. Sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, the Task Force in Ayurvedic Biology supports projects which employ basic sciences such as molecular biology, immunology and biological chemistry to study the basic concepts, procedures and the mechanistic basis of therapeutic activity in Ayurveda. An illustrative study on Rasayana, done by two groups in India, will be discussed.
About the speaker: While at the Sree Chitra Institute, he organized a multi-disciplinary group of scientists, engineers and surgeons and successfully developed a biomaterials research programme with emphasis on the development of medical devices. In less than ten years, his group developed and successfully transferred for production a series of high-tech devices such as tilting disc heart valve, oxygenator, blood bag, etc., which laid the foundation for a modern medical devices industry in India
More recently he has conceptualized and organized several studies on a science initiative in Ayurveda among a network of major institutions across India. These studies in basic sciences take their cues from traditional medicine, such as the genomic basis of doshaprakriti, effect of rasayanas on DNA chain break repair and microstructure of metallic bhasmas.
Professor Valiathan received the prestigious award Padma Vibhushan in 2005. He was bestowed Hunterian Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, RD Birla Award, Om Prakash Bhasin Award, Jawaharlal Nehru Award, Dhanvantari Prize, Aryabhata Medal, JC Bose Medal, GM Modi Award, HK Firodia Award, and Basanti Devi Amir Chand Prize. .He was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad, National Academy of Medical Sciences, Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, Royal College of Physicians of London and the American College of Cardiology.
