Bhushan Patwardhan (born 1959) is a Professor of Health Sciences, biomedical scientist, and ethnopharmacologist. He serves as the chairman of the Interdisciplinary

AYUSH The Ministry of Ayush, a ministry of the Government of India, is responsible for developing education, research and propagation of traditional medicine systems in India. Ayush is a name devised from the names of the alternative healthcare syste ...

R&D Task Force on COVID-19. Until March 4, 2021, Patwardhan served as the Vice Chairman of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, and Chairman of the Indian Council of Social Science Research.

Early life and education

Bhushan Patwardhan was born in 1959 to a middle-class family in

Pune, Maharashtra Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, India. He attended Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya, and Fergusson College Pune where he studied chemistry. He received his Master of Science from

Ahmednagar College Ahmednagar College was founded in 1947 by B. P. Hivale with the support and co-operation of the American Marathi Mission, Bombay, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Boston, Minneapolis, Minnesota, William H. Danforth of ...

and his PhD in Biochemistry from

Savitribai Phule Pune University Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganeshk ...

and the Haffkine Institute of Mumbai. Patwardhan's research was on traditional medicine, Ayurveda, and natural products. After attending university, he worked in the pharmaceutical industry to develop herbal medicines based on Ayurvedic teaching.

Academic career

Patwardhan is a Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences at Savitribai Phule Pune University. His main body of work has been in evidenced-based Ayurvedic teaching, ethnopharmacology, drug development, and the role of traditional medicines in public health. He has delivered guest lectures on the national and international scale, including at the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the Indian Pharmacological Society. Universities he has given guest lectures at include the University of California, the University of Illinois, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, MIT, and Harvard. Patwardhan has served as the Director of the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at Savitribai Phule Pune University, and the vice-chair of the University Grants Commission. He has served on the boards of several Indian universities, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, and the Indian Council of Medical Research. Currently, he is Chairman Executive Committee, National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patwardhan, Bhushan 1959 births Living people Indian medical researchers Savitribai Phule Pune University faculty