Department of NMR All India Institute of Medical Sciences New Delhi - 110029, INDIA
Dr. Rama Jayasundar graduated in 1981 from University of Madras in Physics and did Post Graduation from Anna University, Chennai. She obtained her Ph.D. in NMR (Physics) from Cambridge University, UK. What is unique about her is that she is also a professionally qualified Ayurvedic doctor, which makes her the only scientist nationally and internationally to hold these two degrees. She underwent the basic 5 ½ years medical course in ayurveda from Chennai in 2008 (BAMS - Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery). As an NMR physicist with specialisation in Biomedical NMR, Dr. Rama Jayasundar has wide experience in MR imaging and spectroscopy on both experimental and clinical systems. Her areas of specialisation are clinical imaging and spectroscopy, Radiofrequency (RF) coil designing & building, and RF pulse sequence programming. She developed indigenously, a low cost RF transmitter / receiver coil for clinical use, for which she received the Young Scientist Award. During her stint as a visiting Professor at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry, Gottingen, Germany (1997-1998), she worked on functional MR spectroscopy techniques. She has won numerous awards and has many publications in international journals to her credit. Using her dual qualification as a physicist and a professionally qualified ayurvedic doctor, she is currently involved in scientific research in Ayurveda. Her research interests range from applications of in vitro and in vivo NMR, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and MR spectroscopy to use of other analytical techniques in both basic and clinical ayurvedic research. She is currently the most sought after speaker on the scientific basis and research in ayurveda at both national and international levels.