Prof. (Dr) D. Prabhakaran

Professor Dorairaj Prabhakaran, educated at Bangalore Medical College (MBBS), the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (MD: Internal Medicine and DM: Cardiology) and McMaster University Canada MSc: Health Research Methodology), is an eminent cardiologist, epidemiologist and academician of global repute. He moved beyond the conventional world of clinical cardiology to advance science in the prevention of heart diseases and diabetes in India so that his work could benefit millions of people in this country.

He is currently Distinguished Professor at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). At PHFI, he was  instrumental in establishing two centres of excellence at PHFI (the Centre for Chronic Conditions and Injuries and the Centre for Digital Health) and helped build the Centre for Environmental Health. Before joining PHFI, he built the Centre for Chronic Disease Control, which is now considered the leading research agency for chronic diseases in India and developing countries. It is recognised as a WHO collaborating centre for the Southeast Asia region.

He is also the founding Director of the Centre for Control of Chronic Conditions at PHFI, a joint initiative of four leading institutions (Public Health Foundation of India, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and Emory University). He holds professorships at PHFI, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Emory University, Atlanta, USA. In addition, he is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health and an International Fellow at the Population Research Institute, McMaster University.

Prof. Prabhakaran has, by far, more than 600 publications in scientific journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Circulation, British Medical Journal, Nature, JAMA, etc. and has an H‐Index of 107. He has been listed as the topmost researcher in Medicine in India in terms of publications for the years 2009-2014 by Scopus and Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and recently listed among the top 2% of World’s researchers by the Stanford University with a very high ranking in Medicine and Cardiology. Recognising his contribution to Indian Science, he was elected as a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the highest science academy of India. He has won several awards and accolades, including the Quality Champion by the Quality Council of India. He was conferred the Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the University of Glasgow recently.

His exceptional contributions spanning Science, Medicine and Public Health has catapulted the field of Preventive Cardiology in India and the Low and Middle-income countries.