Dr Poonam Bala, who was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to complete a PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1987, has published several books on the history of medicine and imperialism in India. These include Imperialism and Medicine in Bengal: A Socio-Historical Perspective (Sage, 1991), Medicine and Medical Policies in India: Social and Historical Perspectives (Lexington, 2007), and a volume on the Asian diaspora to be published in 2011. Poonam was also the first Indian to speak at the City Club of Cleveland, during a debate about Kashmir. She was recently awarded an International University Fellowship for a Visiting Professorship in Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa.
Professor Sailaja Pingali, a 2003 Commonwealth Professional Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, has published English Words; Structure, Formation and Literature (Pertinent, 2004), and Indian English (Edinburgh University Press, 2009), which was supported by the Charles Wallace India Trust postdoctoral research grant.
Dr Om Sharma, a fellow of the Society of Toxicology (India), was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to study at Brunel University in 1984. Since then, he has published 112 research papers and review articles in areas such as free radical biochemistry and plant toxins. On two occasions, he has won the Best Paper Award of the Society of Biological Chemists and also the Gold Medal of Panjab University. Om is also a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Animal Sciences.
Professor Hosagavi Puttaraju held a Commonwealth Academic Fellowship at the School of Pure and Applied Biology at Cardiff University in 1997. He has authored 84 publications, including three books, the latest of which is Molecular Biology and Biochemistry – a Laboratory Manual (New India Publishing Agency, 2008). In 2003, he was awarded both Man of the Year by the American Biographical Society and the Young Histochemist Award by the 10th International Congress of Histochemistry and Cytochemistrty.
Dr Sheila Balakrishnan held a Commonwealth Scholarship at Imperial College London in 1993, before writing the Textbook of Obstetrics (Paras Publishers, 2007) and the Textbook of Gynaecology (Paras Publishers, 2010). She also contributed a commentary for the World Health Organization Reproductive Health Library, entitled ‘Surgical Methods for First Trimester Termination of Pregnancy’ (2010).
