Traditional, Herbal and Integrative Medicine

Dr. Y. Deepa is a senior academician, clinician, and researcher in Yoga and Naturopathy with over 18 years of experience. She serves as Reader and Head of the Department of Manipulative Therapy at the Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medical College and Hospital, Chennai. She holds a BNYS degree, an MBA in Hospital Management, and a PG Diploma in Fitness Management. Her research focuses on integrative management of chronic diseases, including chronic kidney disease, hypertension, cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, and mental health, with numerous publications in indexed national and international journals. She has presented scientific papers at prestigious conferences organized by the Ministry of AYUSH, AIIMS, and other institutions. Dr. Deepa actively mentors research projects, conducts community health awareness programs, serves as a journal reviewer, and has received several awards recognizing her contributions to clinical practice, research, and public health in Yoga and Naturopathy.

João B. Calixto, PhD, is Professor of Pharmacology (retired) at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. He is a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and served as its Vice President for the Southern Region from 2015 to 2022.He has authored more than 450 scientific articles published in international peer-reviewed journals, with extensive citations on Google Scholar, and has supervised more than one hundred fifth PhD students and postdoctoral fellows. Over a career spanning more than three decades of collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry, he has contributed to the development of innovative healthcare products, resulting in 26 patents (filed and granted) and four commercialized products.Since 2014, Professor Calixto has served as President and CEO of the Center for Innovation and Preclinical Studies (CIEnP), a leading Brazilian center dedicated to translational research and preclinical drug development. He also led the implementation of CIEnP, an initiative supported by the Brazilian government through the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

I was born on 26 March 1986 in Libreville. I obtained my scientific baccalaureate (Series D) in 2006 at the Simon OYONO ABA’A High School in Bitam (Gabon).I completed my entire university course at the University of Science and Technology of Masuku (USTM).
I was awarded a PhD in Organic Chemistry and Chemistry of Natural Substances in February 2018 and, the following year, I was recruited by USTM as a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Chemistry within the Faculty of Sciences. I am a member of the Laboratory of Organometallic Synthesis and Natural Substances.My research focuses primarily on biomolecules extracted from medicinal plants, with a view to discovering new active pharmaceutical ingredients based on traditional practices.

Dr. S. Nandhini Sundaresan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER), Chennai, India. She obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from SRM Institute of Science and Technology and has extensive experience in pharmaceutical education, herbal drug research, phytochemistry, and novel drug delivery systems.Her research interests encompass medicinal plants, pharmacognosy, phytochemical standardization, quality control of herbal drugs, HPTLC and HPLC method development, phytopharmaceuticals, nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems, Quality by Design (QbD), and evidence-based traditional medicine. She has made significant contributions to the development and standardization of herbal formulations, phytochemical analysis, and nano-enabled phytotherapeutics.Dr. Nandhini has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications in reputed national and international journals. Her recent scholarly work, "Phytoconstituent Based Formulations and Phenolic Compounds in Acne Management: A Comprehensive Review of Traditional Remedies, Modern Strategies, and Therapeutic Innovations," provides an in-depth evaluation of plant-derived bioactive compounds and highlighting the integration of traditional herbal remedies with contemporary pharmaceutical approaches for acne therapy. Her research also spans nanoparticle synthesis, herbal wound healing, Parkinson's disease therapeutics, and advanced phytopharmaceutical technologies.In addition to her research contributions, Dr. Nandhini serves as a reviewer, academic mentor, and organizer of scientific workshops and conferences. She holds patent publications in hydrocolloid biofilms, nanoemulsion-based transdermal drug delivery systems, and analytical methods for herbal marker compounds, and is the Principal Investigator of a funded research project investigating antioxidant supplements using HPLC-based evaluation in head and neck squamous carcinoma cell lines. She is also a Life Member of the Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI).Dr. Nandhini is committed to advancing the scientific validation of traditional medicine through interdisciplinary research, innovative herbal formulations, and global collaborations that bridge ancient healing systems with modern pharmaceutical science.

Prof. Dr. Arifullah Mohammed PhD graduated in 2007 from Sri Venkateswara University, India and continued postdoctoral studies at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore (2007-2010) and University of Calgary, Canada (2010-2011). He worked as a Senior Lecturer and Regional Manager (South Asia) of International linkages at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Malaysia (2012-2024). Currently he’s a full Professor of Biotechnology at Koneru Lakshmaiah University (KLU), Vaddeswaram campus – Guntur, India. He has more than 25 Years of teaching and research experience. He has supervised 5 PhDs and 5 MSc by research. He has successfully completed 10 research projects funded by Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. He has published about 150 research articles in reputed journals, 4 books and 15 book chapters, conference presentations and seminars in which he has been a keynote and invited speaker. He received many honours and awards which include the Best Research Scholar Award – 2004; Junior Scientist of the Year Award – 2005; Young Scientist Award – 2013 and Best Teacher Award – 2013. He is the member of scientific societies like, The Indian Botanical Society, Society for Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology and Society of Biological Chemists. He serves as Editorial member and reviewer for several journals. His innovations have been well recognized with Gold and Siver medals in MTE, ITEX and PECIPTA international exhibitions. His areas of research interest include, Agriculture Biotechnology, Pharmacognosy of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products.

Dr. Jai Prakash is working as Assistant Professor (Grade-I) in the Department of Chemistry, NIT Hamirpur. Previously, He worked as ‘INSPIRE Faculty’ in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India (2016-2018). His Ph. D (2007-2012), carried out at and sponsored by IUAC (formerly, Nuclear Science Center), New Delhi, was awarded by CCS University, Meerut (India). He worked as a postdoctoral researcher at INRS-EMT, Quebec (Canada), Aix-Marseille University (France), Universite Libre de Bruselles (Belgium) and University of the Free State, (South Africa). He has received several National and International scientific awards including DAAD Academic Award (2018), Merit Scholarship Award (ranked# 1) (2017) from Quebec Govt. (Canada), Promising Young Researcher Award (2016) from NRF (South Africa), Prestigious INSPIRE faculty award (2015-2016) and Young Scientist Fast Track (2012) award from DST (India), Guest scientist (2014) from NIMS (Japan), and Senior Research Fellow (2011) from CSIR (India). He has published more than 150 research articles including book/chapters in international scientific peer reviewed journals. Some selected publications in higher impact factor journals are Advanced Powder Materials (APM-Impact Factor 28+), npj Mateirals Sustainability (Nature), J. Mat. Chem. A/B/C, Chem. Comm,, ACS Langmuir, ACS Appl. Materials Interface, npj Sustainable Materials (Nature), Carbon, Energy Storage Materials, Mol. System Design and Eng. (MSDE), Adv. Energy Mat. etc. have gained attention worldwide. He has been continuously listed among World’s Top 2% Scientists List created by Stanford University since 2021 (2021-2025). Recently, he was selected as MSDE Emerging investigator (2023) by RSC, 2023 Emerging Scientist by APM (Elsevier) and Scientific High Level Visiting Fellow (SSHN) by French Institute in India-(2024). He is serving as guest editor in several journals along with as “Associate Editor” in ‘Frontiers of Environmental Chemistry’ and also as a member of Early Career Researcher Editorial Board in ‘Sustainable Chemistry One World’. His major research fields are Functional Nanomaterials, Surface Science, Ion Beam Modifications of Nanomaterials, Chemistry and Physics of Materials for energy and environmental applications. His highly interdisciplinary research includes synthesis/characterizations of plasmonic, 2D nanomaterials, metal-oxides semiconductors nanomaterials, their hybrid/nanocomposites for sensing, solar cell, optical, LEDs, photocatalysis, SERS applications. He has citations more than 6300 with H index-48 (May 2026).

Dr. Atul Bhargava works as Associate Professor, Department of Botany at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Bihar, India. He completed his PhD in 2005 from the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, and postdoctoral studies at the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Cytogenetics at the University of Delhi. Dr. Atul Bhargava has over 19 years of teaching experience and specializes in genetic improvement of crop plants, phytoremediation, and nanobiotechnology. He has more than 60 research papers in reputed journals, 6 books and numerous book chapters to his credit. He has an h-index of 35 and more than 5800 citations to his credit. Dr. Atul Bhargava also serves as an editorial board member of several international journals of repute.

Dr. Manas Barai is an Assistant professor in Department of Chemistry, Dayananda Sagar University, Bengaluru, India. He awarded Ph.D. in Chemistry from Vidyasagar University, West Bengal, India. He completed one-year post-doctoral research experiences from National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, India. Then, obtained two-year senior post-doctoral research experiences in Department of Chemistry, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden. His expertise includes synthesis of long chain cationic, anionic and zwitterionic polymer moieties to study interfacial aggregation behaviors for drug delivery, and inorganic nanoparticle synthesis.