Core Faculty
Professors of Practice
Adjunct Faculty
Prof. Boby George
Prof. Boby George obtained his Ph.D. and M.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras in 2007 and 2003, respectively. His research interests lie in sensor interface electronics, electric and magnetic field-based sensors, and biomedical instrumentation. He has published extensively in these fields, with his research work featured in numerous scientific journals and conferences.
Prof. George has also made significant contributions to the academic community by serving as an associate editor for several IEEE journals, including Sensors Journal, Transactions on Industrial Electronics, and Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. He has supervised several Ph.D. students, and his research findings have been implemented in various industrial applications.
Prof. George is currently the Head of the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology.
Prof. R. Krishna Kumar
Prof. R. Krishna Kumar is a recipient of the lifetime achievement research award from IIT Madras. He is one of India’s foremost experts in inter-disciplinary areas, including computational mechanics and mathematical modelling, biomechanics and cardiac mechanics, and artificial intelligence in medicine and design. Prof. Krishna Kumar’s research, and products developed under his guidance have resulted in highly successful and impactful companies in areas as varied as neuronavigation systems and electric two-wheelers.
Prof. Krishna Kumar graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, the University of Madras in 1978; completed his Masters from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1980; and PhD from IIT Madras in 1990. He is an Institute Professor and, till recently, the Perry L. Blackshear Chair at the Department of Engineering Design at IIT Madras.
Prof. Srikanth Vedantam
Professor Srikanth Vedantam received his B.Tech, M.S., and Sc.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Pennsylvania State University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively.
Professor Vedantam’s research interests include computational modeling of the mechanical behavior of materials and soft matter physics. He has developed and used computational techniques based on discrete particle models, phase field models, and finite element methods to study diverse problems in the mechanical behavior of materials.
In addition to his research, Professor Vedantam is also a dedicated teacher and mentor. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Design of Mechanical Systems, Design of Thermal and Fluid Systems, Mechanics of Materials with Microstructure, and Computation for Engineering Sciences. He has also supervised several PhD students and post-doctoral fellows.
Prof. Srinivasa Chakravarthy
Prof. Srinivasa Chakravarthy obtained his BTech degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras, and MS and PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He received postdoctoral training from the Neuroscience Division, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. He currently holds a joint position as a professor in the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology, at Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.
His research interests are in the areas of Computational Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence. In Computational Neuroscience, his interests include models of the basal ganglia to understand Parkinson’s Disease, hippocampus and spatial navigation, neurovascular coupling, and neural oscillations. The Computational Neuroscience Laboratory that he heads aims at building a simplified Whole Brain model known as the Mesobrain.
He has authored two books in Neuroscience published by Springer. One of these books, “Demystifying the Brain,” presents the contemporary computational perspective of the brain to the lay reader using a minimum of equations, and is accessible to both engineers and medical students.
He is a prolific popular science writer and has authored or translated over 75 books in Telugu. He conducts outreach activity whereby vernacular popular science books are sent to hundreds of rural schools in India.
Prof. Chakravarthy is the inventor of a novel script called Bharati which can express all the major Indian languages.
Dr. Anubama Rajan
Her research interest includes using physiologically relevant patient/healthy-donor derived stem cell organoids to model human diseases, identify therapeutic targets, discover novel biomarkers and as well as validate them using the “organoid: mini-organ on a dish” system. She is the Principal Investigator of Orgamed Laboratory, and the mission of her lab is to bridge the gap in clinical translation research by using these organoids as a surrogate for human subjects in bench-to bedside research.
She was awarded the India Alliance Wellcome Trust Early Career Fellowship for establishing her research program in India in the year 2023. She is also a recipient of Department of Biotechnology, Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship in the year 2022.
Dr. Pradeeba Sridar
Her research interests include the development of an automated framework for fetal ultrasound image analysis, retinal image analysis, translational engineering, signal processing and machine learning for medical image analysis.
Dr. Pradeeba served as an Assistant Professor at IIT Delhi before joining the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology, IITM.
Health Informatics and Imaging Lab offers an exciting opportunity for motivated students with backgrounds in Computer Science Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering, or Biomedical Engineering. We’re seeking passionate individuals eager to delve into cutting-edge research in machine learning, data collection, and clinical analysis within a hospital setting and collaborate with top doctors in the country. If you’re interested in pursuing a PhD with us, please write to Dr. Pradeeba Sridar with your latest CV. Additionally, prospective students will need to apply to the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology (MST), IIT Madras.
Dr. Sunil Kumar Boda
Dr. Sunil Kumar Boda received his Ph.D. in Material Science (Biomaterials) from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2016. Subsequently, he underwent postdoctoral training at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre, Omaha, USA (2017 – 2018) and the University of Minnesota Dental School and the University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, USA (2019 – 2021). Following this, he worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering at IIT Indore (2022 – Sept 2024). Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Sciences and Technology, IIT Madras.
Dr. Boda is a recipient of early career grants/ awards from the DBT, SERB and BRNS, Govt. of India and visiting faculty fellowship from TU Dresden, Germany. His research is primarily focused on orthopedic and dental tissue engineering encompassing bone, joint and soft tissue interfaces. Currently, his group is developing cell instructive implant coatings and tissue sealants for soft tissue integration/ attachment of percutaneous osseointegrated metallic prostheses. In another research direction, his group is working towards scarless healing of tendon, ligament, and skeletal muscle tears via a combination of anisotropic scaffold design, extracellular matrix coatings, biomechanical stimulation and biomimetic peptide/ growth factor delivery.
Professors of Practice
Dr. K.R. Balakrishnan
Dr KR Balakrishnan is one of India’s leading cardiothoracic surgeons and heart-lung transplant specialists with over 30 years of experience. His areas of expertise include end-stage heart failure management (heart transplant & VAD implant), paediatric cardiac surgery, lung transplant, and heart and lung transplant.
Dr Balakrishnan has authored and co-authored multiple articles and book chapters and has presented at numerous national
and international medical conferences. He performed the first permanent artificial heart transplant in India with HeartMate II LVAD and has performed over 16000 cardiac surgeries throughout his career. He graduated from some of India’s finest medical institutions like JIPMER Pondicherry, AIIMS New Delhi, and KEM Hospital, University of Bombay. He and Prof. Krishna Kumar have collaborated in cardiac mechanics for the past twenty years, and their work has been cited in several textbooks.
Dr. Vijit Cherian
Dr. Cherian is a renowned Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon based in Chennai. He is currently Director of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery and Heart Failure at Madras Medical Mission Hospital. Dr Cherian is an expert in a varied spectrum of cardiothoracic surgeries including Beating Heart CABGs, Mitral Valve Repairs, and Aortic surgeries, Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Heart failure therapies and heart transplants. He has performed thousands of surgeries with a high success rate.
After completing his MBBS from Seth G S Medical College, Mumbai, in 1992, Dr Cherian pursued MS in General Surgery and DNB at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, in 1995. He later completed an MCh in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery from Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, in 1998.
Dr Cherian has served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Christian Medical College, Vellore. With his immense experience in leading programs in well known institutions, Dr Cherian brings his blend of surgical practice, academic, and research experience to the School of Medical Sciences & Technology.
Dr. Karthik Kailash
Dr K. Karthik Kailash, the current Prof and Head of Spine Surgery at Sri Ramachandra University Chennai, has over twenty-five years of experience in Spine Surgery.
An MBBS from Madras Medical College, Dr. Kailash did his Diploma and DNB training at Govt Royapettah Hospital Chennai 1991 and his Diplomate in Orthopaedics and spine fellowship from the world-famous Allegeimeines Krankenhaus (AKH) hospital in Vienna and the University of Vienna, Austria and then did his MCH in Orthopaedics from University of Dundee, UK 1997. He then underwent spine fellowship training in the USA for three years with Dr Steffe, the pioneer and originator of the Steffee pedicle screw system.
His special interests are Spinal deformity, Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and Endoscopic Spine Surgery. He has authored chapters in 5 textbooks and has over 40 publications apart from being a faculty for numerous National and international meetings and has done many live demonstration surgeries nationally.
Recipient of the Best Doctor Award and many other awards, he is the President of the Chennai Ortho Spine Society and also the Founding core member of the Minimally Invasive Spine Society of India.
Dr. Ajit S. Mullasari
Dr. Ajit Mullasari is Director of Cardiology at the Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases, Madras Medical Mission, Chennai. He completed his MBBS, Masters, and Post Doctoral Degree in Cardiology all from Grant Medical College, University of Mumbai. He is a Fellow in Interventional Cardiology of The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Australia, and of the Royal College of Physicians, Glasgow. Dr. Mullasari’s interests include Interventional Cardiology, Vascular Imaging, Clinical Research and Research in Basic Cardiac Sciences. He has published 150 peer-reviewed papers and around 200 abstracts in peer reviewed journals. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 from Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai.
Dr. JSN Murthy
Dr Murthy, former Vice-Chancellor at Sri Ramachandra University and Professor of Cardiology at Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, has more than 30 years of teaching experience and 40 years of clinical experience as an interventional cardiologist. He has an excellent publication record and has guided four PhDs. He has been trained in the UK in several areas, including paediatric cardiology, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and paediatric and adult interventional cardiology.
Dr Murthy is the recipient of the lifetime achievement award by Tamil Nādu Dr MGR University, the lifetime achievement award by the Indian Medical Association and the Dr Sanjeevi award.
Dr. Bhagyam Raghavan
Senior Consultant, Radiology, Apollo Cancer Centre
Dr. Bhagyam Raghavan is a Senior Consultant, Radiology at Apollo Cancer Centre, Chennai. She established the Department of Radio-diagnosis and Imaging in 1996 at Apollo Cancer Centre, Chennai, catering to Oncology, Neurosurgical and Orthopaedic patients. Dr. Bhagyam has been a Radio-Diagnosis Thesis Guide & external examiner for the Diplomate in National Board Exams since 2002. She has also been a co-investigator for Oncology Drug Trials involving Imaging since 2008.
Dr. Bhagyam’s interests span musculoskeletal, neurological, and oncological imaging. She has wide ranging expertise in onco-imaging, mammography, whole body PET CT, non-catheter Interventions, breast Interventions, stereotaxic & USG guided interventions, wire localizations, and whole body ultrasound & CT guided biopsies, aspirations and drainages.
Dr. Rajiv Raman
Dr Rajiv Raman is a renowned Ophthalmologist with more than a decade’s experience performing vitreoretinal procedures for retinal diseases. He initiated one of the first comprehensive programmes for screening for diabetic retinopathy in India and is a pioneer in teleophthalmology in the country. Along with a team from Google, Dr. Raman developed and validated an automated retinopathy detection algorithm.
Dr Raman has published nearly 250 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals covering several aspects of retinal diseases but focused on diabetic retinopathy. His model of DR screening has been adopted by several institutes globally.
Dr Raman’s rich research background and his work in automated tools for detecting eye diseases will inspire students to learn how clinical and surgical expertise can be augmented with technology tools and Artificial Intelligence systems.
Dr. Rajan Ravichandran
Dr Rajan Ravichandran is one of India’s foremost Nephrologists. He is currently the Director of MIOT Institute of Nephrology in Chennai. Dr Ravichandran has treated more than 20,000 patients from India and worldwide for various nephrology-related ailments involving general nephrology, dialysis, and kidney transplants.
Dr Ravichandran was Head of the Department of Nephrology at Voluntary Health Services (VHS) between 1985 and 1989. He was appointed a visiting professor at Tokyo Women’s Medical College in 1997. Recognising that prevention is the most critical aspect of Kidney Disease, Dr Ravichandran founded the Sapiens Health Foundation for advocation and highly subsidised treatment. Dr Ravichandran was awarded the FACP (USA) in May 2008 and FRCP (EDIN) in June 2008.
Dr Ravichandran’s collaboration with IIT Madras goes back well over two decades. The Acute Dialysis machine used in critical patients to remove fluid to treat pulmonary oedema was a product of this collaboration. Another successful partnership resulted in the Polyallylamine Phosphate Binder, a non-calcium-containing resin used orally to remove Phosphorus in patients with Chronic Kidney Disease, reducing the number of coronary events in these patients. The concept of oral resin has now been developed to release several other substances from the body.
Dr. Suresh Seshadri
Dr Suresh Seshadri is a pioneer in diagnostic ultrasound imaging in India. He was instrumental in establishing fetal medicine as a speciality through the Foetal Care Research Foundation (FCRF), a non-profit organisation focused on specialised care in foetal medicine. With the objective that no mother should have to undergo a miscarriage arising from congenital disabilities, FCRF involved extensive research in foetal malformations, prenatal diagnosis and foetal therapy.
Dr Seshadri also runs Mediscan Systems, a successful venture providing Foetal imaging services. His pioneering work in Foetal medicine and his rich experience as a doctor with a successful entrepreneurial career will be invaluable for the School and its students.
Dr. Sivakumar
Dr Sivakumar is an Innovator Awardee from Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF), a world-ranking hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. His expertise includes epigenetic – nanotherapeutics, nanomedicine, and combining pre-clinical and clinical research. He was a Deputy Director, Clinical Research Division at Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences (DMIMS), Wardha & Datta Meghe Medical College, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, and Prof. & Head of Narayana Translational Research and Incubation Center, Narayana Medical College, Nellore, AP.
Dr. Sivakumar was also the head of both institutions’ central animal house facility and stem cell research unit. He holds an Adjunct Professor position at the Engineering Design Department, IIT Madras. Currently, he is at the Manipur University, a Central University, Manipur, India.
Dr. S. Vijayakumar
Dr Vijayakumar is a Physician – Scientist with PhD. in Medical sciences and is an administrator. He is the Registrar of Narayana Academy of Higher Education, Nellore; AP. He has vast experience with the nuances of medical college functioning and is well versed with the regulations of Indian Medical Statutory bodies. He played an essential role in establishing Narayana Medical, Dental, Nursing, Physiotherapy, and allied health sciences colleges. He plays a pivotal role in framing collaborative medical programs, including PhD and signing MOUs with foreign institutions.
After completing MBBS in 1981 from S.V. University, AP, India., he did a post-graduation in Child health from Ireland and PhD from Lincoln University, Malaysia. He served as a paediatrician in the Ministry of Health, Libya; He has been practising community paediatrics and teaching at Narayana Medical College, Nellore, for the past 20 years.
Dr. Shiv Kumar Viswanathan
Dr. Viswanathan began his clinical training as a Physician Assistant at Madras Medical Mission, where he received training from renowned experts in cardiology and cardiac surgery such as Drs. Mullasari Ajith, K Latchumanadhas, KM Cherian, and KS Murthy. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he worked as a Pediatric Intensive Care PA for Dr. Devi Shetty at the Manipal Heart Foundation before pursuing a research-focused career.
Dr. Viswanathan earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Developmental Biology at the University of Cincinnati (UC), researching the molecular development of the Sino-Atrial node, the primary pacemaker of the heart. His post-doctoral research on Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), identified specific genetic mutations that cause HCM among South Asians. His research e1orts were recognized with the American Heart Association (AHA) Fellowship for both his doctoral and post-doctoral research, an AHA award for personalized medicine, as well as UC seed money for developing an a1ordable genetic test to identify individuals at risk of HCM among South Asians.
Specializing in personalized translational medicine for rare genetic disorders, Dr. Viswanathan led his team in establishing pre-clinical safety and developing trial monitoring assays leading to the successful FDA approval of three gene therapy vector IND applications for X-SCID, Sickle cell disease, and β-Thalassemia. He currently serves as a regulatory consultant for several biotech companies, providing technical advice to ensure product safety and regulatory guidance in FDA approval and clinical trials.
Adjunct Faculty
Dr. M. Srinivas
Dr. M. Srinivas has had an illustrious career with more than three decades’ experience in various positions in the academic, administrative and research fields. He joined AIIMS in 1994 and ascended the academic ladder and became Professor of Pediatric Surgery in the year 2011. He has authored around 200 research papers and has trained thousands of undergraduate and postgraduate medical students. His administrative experience includes development of new medical colleges under the ESI Corporation, having contributed to the initiation of more than 10 new medical colleges, and starting post graduate and super speciality courses in these institutes. He was a meritorious student throughout his career and has received several Gold medals and Awards. He is a distinguished member of 15 Professional organizations and has been awarded fellowships by many of them. He did a prestigious fellowship from the Children’s Research Center, Dublin, Ireland and returned with a rich experience to teach and train in India.
Dr. Srinivas is the Director, AIIMS, New Delhi since 23rd September 2022.
Dr. R.M. Anjana
Dr. R.M. Anjana is the Managing Director of Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Non-Communicable Diseases. She also serves as the Vice President of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. Dr. Anjana’s research focuses on diabetes prevention, epidemiology, and metagenomics. She holds an MBBS (2002), MD (2007), Diploma in Diabetology from the University of Cardiff (2010), and a Ph.D. from Madras University (2013). She has been awarded fellowships from renowned institutions like the American College of Physicians and the Royal College of Physicians. An esteemed academic, she’s published over 250 papers and has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Boehringer-Knoll Junior Lectureship in Diabetes and the Healthcare Excellence Award. Dr. Anjana is also a member of several national medical associations and was selected for the WHF Salim Yusuf Emerging Leaders Programme in 2020.
Dr. Rita Christopher
Dr. Rita Christopher has more than three decades of academic and research experience in the field of Clinical Chemistry and Neurosciences. After obtaining MBBS and MD (Biochemistry) from the Madras Medical College, Chennai, India, she has undergone training in Clinical Chemistry at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, and the Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Child Health, University College London, UK. She joined the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, as a faculty in the department of Neurochemistry. Here she established the first, state-of-the-art, mass spectrometry-based diagnostic facility in India for the identification of inherited metabolic disorders. She superannuated from NIMHANS after serving as the Dean (Basic Sciences) and Senior Professor of Neurochemistry. She has published more than 250 papers in international and national journals and guided 27 students for the award of PhD. She is a recipient of the Commonwealth Academic Fellowship, PS Murthy-KP Sinha award, VGST-CESEM award etc.
Dr Rita Christopher is presently the Lab Director, Integrative Medical Research facility at PES University Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bengaluru.
Dr. Rohan Jaishankar
Dr. Rohan Jaishankar received his B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology – Madras, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His doctoral thesis was on noninvasive estimation of intracranial pressure, and covered clinical, signal processing, modeling, and experimental work. He also taught courses at MIT on quantitative systems physiology, electrophysiology and cardiovascular mechanics.
Since his graduation, he has been working in the Digital Healthcare division at Analog Devices Inc. in Wilmington, Massachusetts, where he works on developing clinical-grade multi-parametric remote patient monitoring solutions, leveraging his foundations in physiology and engineering. His passion lies in bridging the gap between the engineering and clinical spaces by focusing on clinical translation, medical design rooted in physiology and healthcare application-driven research. His research interests include the development of systems (algorithms and devices) for continuous monitoring of vitals and early disease detection in the cardiovascular, pulmonary and neurological domains.