Dr. Prathap Tharyan, MD, MRCPsych, is former Professor of Psychiatry and Deputy Director of the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore. He was also the founding director of South Asian Cochrane Network & Centre, an independent Centre of the Cochrane Collaboration. During his professional career, he had served as an Associate Editor of the journal ’Trials’, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), a member of the steering group of the Clinical Trials Registry-India (www.ctri.in), member of the Scientific Advisory Group of the Indian Council for Medical Research and many other important positions. Dr. Tharyan has taught several generations of undergraduate and post graduate students of psychiatry and continues to be an inspiration of all those who come in contact with him. Outside work, he loves to travel, is an avid fan of adventure sports and an excellent singer.
Dr. Samiran Panda MD is currently the Director of the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune. He is well known for his contributions to public health in the fields of HIV, Hep C and enteric diseases. Dr. Panda has often worked with hard to reach client groups in settings where any conventional scientist would seldom dare to tread such as investigating the cause sudden increase in infant mortality in Saiha district of Mizoram, rapid situation assessment of diarrhea outbreak following AILA cyclone, HIV transmission patterns in injecting drug users in Manipur, HCV and HIV epidemic in Punjab etc. Critical thinking and conducting research using mixed method approach is something that Dr. Panda enjoys doing with an ultimate goal to help human health and development. Dr. Panda loves teaching and his style of student engagement in research methodology workshops is unique and unforgettable to anyone who has attended the sessions. He also has a keen interest in music and literature.
Dr Mohandas K. Mallath is a Senior Consultant in the Department of Digestive Diseases. After passing MBBS and MD (Medicine) from Bombay University, he specialized in Gastroenterology, Digestive Oncology and Cancer Epidemiology at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA, and Medical College of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London respectively. He was a faculty of TMH, Mumbai from 1989 to 2012 and served as Professor and Head of the Department of Digestive Diseases and Convener of GI Cancer Management Group. He is a member on the Digestive Oncology Task Force of the World Gastroenterology Association and is a member of the European Society for Digestive Oncology since its inception. He has been the secretary and the president of the Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy of India. He was a postgraduate teacher, the Dean of Academic at Tata Memorial Centre and Convener, Board of Studies for Health Sciences at the Homi Bhabha National Institute (Deemed University). Presently he is a member of the Academic Council of the Medical Council of India.
Dr Reena Nair is a Senior Consultant in the Department of Clinical Hematology at the Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata. She passed her MBBS and MD (Medicine) from Goa Medical College, Bombay University. She trained in Medical Oncology and Hemato-Oncology at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai and at Hammersmith Hospital, London. Dr. Nair was the founding member of the Lymphoma Registry of Mumbai and the National Lymphoma Registry. She was the Convener of the Hemato-Oncology Management Group at the Tata Memorial Hospital. She was a Professor, Postgraduate teacher and examiner for DM Medical Oncology. Dr. Nair has carried out many cancer chemotherapy trials and is a faculty member at Australia and Asia Pacific Clinical Oncology Research Development (ACORD) Workshop.
Dr Santam Chakraborty is an Associate Consultant of Tata Medical Center, Kolkata. He completed his MBBS from Medical College, Kolkata followed by MD from Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh. He trained further as a Senior Resident in PGIMER, Chandigarh and then went to Canada for a 1-year fellowship in IMRT at Tom Baker Cancer Center, Calgary, Alberta. He has served as a faculty in several hospitals across the country including Dr B Barooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati (2010-11), Malabar Cancer Center, Thalassery, Kerala (2011-14) and Tata Memorial Hospital (2014-17). His special interests include breast cancer, gyneocological cancers and health economics.
Dr. Manas Kumar Roy, a graduate of Banaras Hindu University, passed MS (Surgery) from the same institution in 1991. Subsequently, he pursued higher surgical training in the United Kingdom, and obtained FRCS (Edinburgh and Glasgow) in 1994. During this tenure, he worked mainly in East Glamorgan General Hospital, University Hospital of Wales (Cardiff) and Hammersmith Hospital (London). His basic research with colonic carcinoma and matrix metalloproteinase, lead to MCh from University of Wales, Cardiff (2005). In Kolkata, he had worked in AMRI, Mission of Mercy Hospital, RamaKrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan and immediately prior to joining TMCT, he was the Head, Department of General Surgery, Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences. He has been a visiting Fellow to Kurume University, Japan and National Cancer Center, Singapore. He has supervised surgical candidates for DNB, examines for MRCS, Royal College of Surgeon, Edinburgh and is an UICC Fellow.