Bhushan Patwardhan (born 1959) is a highly cited biomedical scientist, and ethnopharmacologist involved in transdisciplinary research on Ayurveda and traditional medicine. Currently, he is the National Research Professor-Ayush and a Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences at Savitribai Phule Pune University.[1] He is also adjunct professor at NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University, Australia. He served as the chairman of the Interdisciplinary AYUSH R&D Task Force on COVID-19 and India Lead, WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine Task Force. He is also a member of the Lancet Citizens' Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System. Until March 4, 2021, Patwardhan served as the Vice Chairman of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, and Chairman i/c of the Indian Council of Social Science Research. He served as Chairman Executive Committee, NAAC Bengaluru until March 6, 2023 National Assessment and Accreditation Council.
He served as a senior consultant and co-chair of an Advisory Group for the WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit and Global Center for Traditional Medicine of the WHO, Geneva.
Bhushan Patwardhan was born to a middle-class family in Pune, Maharashtra, India. He attended Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya, and Fergusson College Pune where he studied chemistry. He received his Master of Science from Ahmednagar College and his PhD in biochemistry from Savitribai Phule Pune University and the Haffkine Institute of Mumbai. Patwardhan's research was on traditional medicine, Ayurveda, and natural products. After attending university, he worked in the pharmaceutical industry to develop herbal medicines based on Ayurvedic teaching.[2]
His main body of work has been in evidenced-based Ayurveda,[3] [4] ethnopharmacology,[5] drug development,[6] [7] and the role of traditional medicines in public health.[8] He has made considerable contributions to immunopharmacology, integrative health, and public health through original research on the role of traditional medicine in affordable health care, natural product drug development, ethnopharmacology, and Ayurvedic biology. He has innovatively used modern scientific approaches for evidence-based Ayurvedic medicine. He used an array of advanced technologies for the identification, separation, and standardization of botanical pharmaceuticals. He developed novel pharmacological models to study botanical immunoadjuvants and created holistic clinical protocols that gave a unique identity to contemporary research in Ayurveda. His pioneering work on the genetic basis of Prakriti has led to the concept of AyuGenomics, which can influence research in epidemiology, pharmacogenetics, and personalized medicine. His scholarly books ‘Integrative Approaches for Health’ and ‘Innovative Approaches to Drug Discovery’ both published by Academic Press Elsevier have received excellent reviews. His research account spanning 30 years of contributions in evidence-based Ayurveda was published by Current Science in 2012 (v102). NATURE published his World View article on predatory publishing. He is the topmost cited author in the field of Ayurveda with over 13100 citations is listed amongst the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford University study.
He has delivered guest lectures on the national and international scale, including at the UN WHO, and the Indian Pharmacological Society. Universities he has given guest lectures at include the University of California, the University of Illinois, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, MIT, and Harvard. He was awarded SASTRA Mahamana Award 2024 for excellent contributions to scientific research on Indian Knowledge Systems.
Patwardhan has served as the Director of the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Vice Chancellor of a Deemed University in Pune and the vice-chair of the University Grants Commission.[9] He has served on the boards of several Indian universities, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, and the Indian Council of Medical Research.. Currently, he chairs the Scientific Advisory Committee of ICMR National Institute of Traditional Medicine, Belagavi.