Dr. Shashi Bala Singh

Director, NIPER Hyderabad.

Dr. Shashi Bala Singh a Distinguished Scientist and Director General, Life Sciences (DG LS) in Defence Research and Development Organisation till 31 May 2018. Prior to DGLS she was Scientist ‘H’/Outstanding Scientist and Director of Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), Delhi since 2010. A person with strong will, she has the distinction of serving as the Director of Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), Leh, from 2007 to 2010. She is an alumni of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) where she obtained her Ph.D. degree in Human Physiology in 1986 and started her career in DRDO at DIPAS, Delhi in 1990. She was awarded D.Sc. from Bharathiar University in 2014.

Dr. Shashi Bala Singh has worked extensively in the area of High Altitude physiology and has made remarkable contributions in improving the quality of life of the soldiers deployed at high altitudes. She has identified novel mechanisms of hypophagia and cognitive impairment and several signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms underlying morbidities associated with high altitude hypoxia. She worked on various behavioral, biochemical and electrophysiological studies which proved that impairment in memory function is mainly due to the oxidative stress leading to neuro-degeneration in brain structures (hippocampus, cortex and striatum) involved in learning and memory. She also worked on development of supplements with antioxidant and cholinomimetic drugs to improve high altitude induced impairment in cognitive functions. She has been instrumental in guiding studies on understanding adaptation, maladaptation, performance enhancement and rapid acclimatization using intermittent hypoxia.

Using translational research for improving life of troops at high altitude, her endeavors have made the life of troops comfortable in the most difficult to inhabit terrains. During her tenure as Director in Leh, she created an innovative agricultural eco-system that has enabled the socio-economic development of Ladakh through science and technology. Her efforts resulted in increased fresh food productivity through introduction of new varieties, establishment of greater infrastructure and intensification of lab to land programme. Under her guidance, various technologies/products like oxygen-enrichment facilities, Sourja (solar shelter), Bukhari, Alocal (Anti frost-bite cream) were improvised. All these help in modulating the microclimate of soldier thus providing improved habitability in difficult terrains. She has been instrumental in customizing various yoga packages for high altitude and hot desert conditions. She has given impetus to several genomic and proteomic studies which aim to study the molecular basis of various high-altitude induced maladies.

In a career spanning more than 30 years, her contributions have been recognized through many awards and honors, some of which include the following -

• President, Indian Academy of Neurosciences for three years, since 2018.
• Member of the Research Advisory committee (RAC) of BLDE (deemed to be university), Bijapur for three years, since 2018.
• Chairperson, Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on ‘Health, Food & Nutrition’ under Women Scientists Scheme-B (WOS-B) of Department of Sciemce & Technology, Govt of India, since 2017.
• Member, Academic Council, Central University of Gujarat, 2013-to date.
• Prof. RC Shukla Oration Award (KGMU, Lucknow), 2016
• Member NIT Governing Council, 2016.
• Prof. U.S. Srivastava Memorial Lecture Award of National Academy of Science India, 2015.
• Member of Executive Council of Federation of Asian Oceanian Physiological Societies (FAOPS), 2015.
• Elected Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences (FAMS) 2015.
• Sectional President Medical Sciences including Physiology, 102nd Indian Science Congress, 2015.
• Member for DRDO Inter-Academy panel on “Women in Science in India” Vision Document, 2015.
• Member, "Innovation Scholars In-Residence" Program at Rashtrapati Bhavan, 2015.
• Member of the Project review committee of National Innovation Foundation (NIF).
• President of Federation of Indian Physiological Societies (FIPS).
• Maj. Gen. S.L. Bhatia Oration Award, APPICON, Bhubaneswar, 2014.
• Prof S.C.Mahalanobis Memorial Oration, PSI, 2014.
• Titanium Trophy: DIPAS by Hon’ble Prime Minister for best R&D Lab, 2013.
• Elected Fellow of National Academy of Science India (NASI), 2013.
• Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc), 2013.
• Surg Rear Admiral M.S Malhotra Prize for the best paper, 2012.
• Fellow of Indian Academy of Neuroscience (FIAN), 2012.
• CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development, 2011.
• Jury Member of Marico Innovation Awards, 2011.
• “Scientist of the Year Award” by Hon’ble Prime Minister in 2010.
• Marico Innovation Award in public service category, 2010.
• Technology Spin-off award by Hon'ble prime Minister of India, 2008.
• Member of the Academic Council of theCentral University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN).
• Academic Board member of Sri Ram Institute of Industrial Research.
• Fellow of Indian Association of Biomedical Scientists (FIABMS).
• Member, Academic Board, Sriram Institute of Industrial Research.

Dr Singh has been successful in commercialization and transfer of several of her technologies to the industries. Technology transfer of 10 products is under commercial production. She has supervised 18 Ph.D. students in Physiology and Life Sciences. She also holds editorship of many journals including Journal of Biomedicine (Physiology section) and Annals of Neurosciences. She has 27 patents and published three books, 27 book chapters and more than 170 research papers in national and international journals of repute.