India Editorial Advisory Board

Gnanaraj150-80x80Dr. J. Gnanaraj, MS, MCh (Urology), FARSI, FICS, FIAGES
Editor-in-Chief, mdCurrent-India
Karunyanagar, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Dr. J. Gnanaraj is an Urologist and laparoscopic and rural surgeon trained at CMC Vellore. He is currently the Director of Medical Services of SEESHA, a charitable trust, and an Adjunct Professor at the Karunya University EIE department. The Lancet Commission on Global Health has chosen Karunya as the center of excellence in innovation.

gasless lap surgery 4 - dr gDr. Gnanaraj started his career as a missionary doctor with Friends Missionary Prayer Band in a remote tribal area in Dangs district of Gujarat, and later spent over two decades with Emmanuel Hospital Association that has many hospitals in rural areas. His interest is to take modern surgery to the poor and marginalized in rural areas, which has inspired him to help 23 hospitals start minimally invasive surgeries, and train many rural doctors.

Dr. Gnanaraj has published approximately 200 articles in national and international Journals related to modification of surgical techniques and managing rural hospitals. He developed high tech diagnostic and surgical camps that have benefited thousands of rural patients with over 50,000 of them receiving modern surgical care in the remote areas over the past three decades. He also started the Surgical Services Initiative to serve the poor and the marginalized in rural areas.

Dr. Gnanaraj is the recipient of numerous awards including:

  • The Lockheed Martin innovations award by the Department of Science & Technology of Indian government and the Lockheed Martin group in USA
  • The Somervelle Prize in Surgery from CMC Vellore
  • The Barker Memorial Award from Tropical Doctor
  • The Innovation Award of Emmanuel Hospital Association
  • The Antia–Finseth Innovation Award of the Association of Rural Surgeons of India

He is a Fellow of the Association of Rural Surgeons of India, International College of Surgeons, and Indian Association of the Gastroenterological Surgeons. Dr. Gnanaraj is also the Indian Director of the International Federation of Rural Surgeons. He served as the Editor of the publication Rural Surgery for several years.

Throughout his quest to serve the poor patients in the rural areas, Dr. Gnanaraj has been involved in developing low cost equipment such as the vacuum therapy unit, low cost noninvasive monitoring devices, and single incision gasless laparoscopic surgery devices. He has also designed hospital management software. He is working on accreditation and credentialing for rural surgical facilities and is involved with NABH as an assessor. Currently he is working with the Association of Rural Surgeons of India as the Vice President and is the joint Secretary for the International Federation of Rural Surgeons.

Thomas Alexander, MD, DM, FACC, FICC, FCSI
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. Alexander is an interventional cardiologist who is the Head of the Division of Cardiology at Kovai Medical Center and Hospital in Coimbatore, India. He has established a very active interventional unit at the hospital, which performs 1,500 procedures per year, including 500 cardiac and 150 peripheral interventions. The division also offers ablation procedures through its electrophysiology program; and pacemaker, ICD, and heart failure device implantations. Dr. Alexander is the course director of the STEMI India meeting, an international STEMI conference and the only one of its type in India. He is also the founder trustee of STEMI-INDIA, a not-for-profit organization that disseminates information on STEMI management, trains STEMI teams, and develops national STEMI guidelines and develops a STEMI system of care in India. Dr. Alexander is a member of the National Guideline Committee, established by the Union Health Ministry, and he has served in leadership positions for several cardiology societies in India. He has presented papers and given lectures at numerous regional, national, and international meetings and has been invited faculty at major cardiology and interventional cardiology conferences. Dr. Alexander is active as a principal investigator in numerous cardiology-focused clinical trials.

Dilip Gupta, MS (Surgery)
Sevagram, Wardha, Maharashtra, India
Dr. Gupta received his MS (Surgery) from Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MGIMS) and training in endoscopic urologic surgery. He currently is a Professor and Head, Department of Surgery at MGIMS. He has published in 23 research papers, co-authored/edited manuals and organized CME workshops & conferences at national and state levels. He's a life member of the Association of Rural Surgeons of India, Association of Minimal Access Surgeons of India, Indian Medical Association, and the Indian Red Cross Society. His interests include: oncology, pediatric surgery, urology and medical education.

R.D. Kulkarni, MD
Dharwad, Karnataka, India
Dr. Kulkarni’s professional focus is on infectious disease and microbiology. He is Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, SDM College of Medical Sciences and Hospital, Dharwad, Karnataka, India. He is a published author of numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, focusing on microbiology, biology, and infectious disease topics related to internal medicine, urology, hepatology, ob/gyn, pediatrics, dentistry, and other clinical areas. Dr. Kulkarni has received a number of grants investigating topics such as HIV infection and antimicrobial activity in dentistry. He established a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory, which has both conventional and real-time PCR units, at the SDM College of Medical Sciences and Hospital. He also designed an in-house PCR test for laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis and has begun work on establishing a toxigenicity test for C. diphtheriae. Dr. Kulkarni has given numerous live and poster presentations at national and international medical conferences and has served in leadership positions for several medical societies.

Sekar Michael, MBBS, MD
Coimbatore, India
Dr. Sekar Michael, underwent post-graduate training in anaesthesiology and pain services at Christian Medical College, Vellore. His passion for chronic pain management led him to specialise in pain services and start a comprehensive interventional pain clinic at Coimbatore. Besides being active Instructor in Essential Pain Management, he is also the Editor in chief of the Tamil Nadu Journal of Anaesthesia, and has many international and national publications to his credit.

Anurag Mishra, MBBS, MS, DNB, MNAMS
New Delhi, India
Dr. Anurag Mishra is working as Associate Professor (Surgery) in Maulana Azad Medical College. He also is part of Indian Chapter of Lancet Commission for Global Surgery. He is deeply interested in Research, Volunteering with humanitarian organisation and cause of rural surgeons. He is editorial board of several journals like MAMC journal of Medical Sciences, New Indian Journal of Surgery etc.

Pragnesh Vachharajani, MDPragnesh M. Vachharajani, MBBS, PGDMCH
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
An expert in online medical consulting, Dr. Vachharajani is an experienced practicing family physician with a special interest in obesity and lifestyle-related disorders. With a genuine passion and enthusiasm for healthcare information technology (HIT), he has championed the cause of using HIT in day-to-day clinical practice. He serves as an advisor to medical portals and provides online medical consulting. Dr. Vachharajani is a founding member of “The Family Clinic” specialized chain of medical clinics, and he is currently the president-elect of the Ahmedabad Medical Association. He is a frequent expert speaker who has presented at medical conferences at the local, state, and national level and who has been featured on various television channels and radio stations. Dr. Vachharajani runs the popular blog for Indian doctors called Online Family Physician (http://onlinefamilyphysician.blogspot.com/). In addition to his, MBBS, he holds a post-graduate certificate in environmental and occupational health (PGDMCH).