The Ministry of Ayush has formally announced setting up of Ayurveda Academic Chair based at Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute, with tenure for a period of three years.

Dr Rajagopala S., Associate Professor & Head (Department of Kaumarabhritya) All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi has been selected for the post of Academic Chair in Ayurvedic Science at Western Sydney University, Australia.

The Academic Chair will undertake academic and collaborative research activities in Ayurveda, including herbal medicine and yoga, as well as design academic standards and short-term/medium-term courses and educational guidelines.

It will provide academic leadership in demonstrating and fostering excellence in teaching, research and policy development related to Ayurveda, within the robust Australian regulatory frame work, and develop strategies to promote the translation and integration of evidence based Ayurveda medicines into conventional healthcare.

Prof Barney Glover, Vice Chancellor & President, Western Sydney University acknowledged that this collaboration will help in bringing together Western medicine and Ayurvedic Science.

“The collaboration strengthens the University’s reputation as Australia’s leader in integrative and complementary medicine, and is a significant step towards developing a new research stream for the NICM Health Research Institute", Prof Glover said.

NICM Health Research Institute’s Director, Professor Dennis Chang said, “There is great synergy between All India Institute of Ayurveda and NICM Health Research Institute in preclinical, clinical and translational research of traditional medicine."

Dr Dilip Ghosh, Adjunct Fellow, NICM Health Research Institute was also present during the event along with other officials. "I am happy to see that this collaboration has finally taken place which was started three years ago. We hope to achieve high levels in the field of integrative medicine in the next few years", he said.