Ashok D B Vaidya

Dr Ashok D B Vaidya is the pioneer of the path-breaking concept of Reverse Pharmacology–a novel path to drug development from traditional medicine leads. He is currently the Research Director, Kasturba Health Society’s MMRC, ICMR Advanced Centre for Research in Reverse Pharmacology. He is Adjunct Professor, Dept of Immunology and Microbiology at Drexel University, Philadelphia.

Born as the eldest son of an Ayurvedic physician on 27th Nov 1936 in a small town in Saurashtra, Gujarat, he studied Medicine at Seth G.S Medical College and K.E.M Hospital, Mumbai. 40 years of clinical research experience followed his M.D. in Internal Medicine and PhD in Pharmacology from the same institute. He got his post doctoral training as MERCK International Fellow in Clinical Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine and he became amongst the first generation of Clinical Pharmacologists that the world saw. He has been the Director of Clinical Research (1970-88) Medical Director (1988-93) of CIBA–GIEGY (Now Novartis).

Fascinated by Ayurveda, this scientist became the Medical and Research Director, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’s Swami Prakashanand Ayurvedic Research Centre (1993-2006). His great team at SPARC included leading Ayurveda and Modern Medicine physicians, biochemists and laboratory personnel. They have conducted model research studies on Ayurvedic herbs like Mucuna pruriens, Tinospora cordifolia, Arogya vardhini–a compound Ayurvedic preparation. When Lord Walton Committee, Upper House of the British parliament announced Ayurveda as a third class form of medicine in 2001, Dr.Vaidya made a cogent and scientific plea on behalf of evidence-based Ayurveda which got it the deserved status of First class medicine.

He founder fellow of Academy of Indian Medicine and Indian College of Allergy and Immunology. Dr.Vaidya is founding Chairman of South Asian Chapter of American College of Clinical Pharmacology. He has served as consultant to WHO, CSIR, ICMR, DBT and several industries. Dr Vaidya has authored more than 250 journal articles and several book chapters on various topics in Clinical Research and Ayurveda.