Invited Speakers
(in alphabetical order)
Aravind Nehrujee
PhD Student
IIT Madras and CMC Vellore
A Senior Research Fellow working in the medical research projects in IIT Madras and CMC Vellore. Aravind's work focuses in Computer aided design and manufacturing, Rehabilitation engineering and game development.
Dr Ashish Dutta
Jag Mohan Chair Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Dean, Digital Infrastructure and Automation Coordinator,
Centre for Mechatronics IIT Kanpur
Dr Dutta is a Chair Professor of Mechnical Engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Dr Dutta received his PhD from the Akita University Japan, ME from Jadavpur University, India and BTech from R.E.C. Calicut, India. Dr Dutta's research interests include humanoid robotics, motion planning, leg and hand exoskeletons, intelligent control systems, brain computer interface for rehabilitation robotics.
Justin Jesudas
Chief Executive Officer at The Spinal Foundation
The Spinal Foundation is an India Self-Help Group for persons with spinal cord injury.
Justin Jesudas joined The Spinal Foundation in December 2020 after quitting a two decade long corporate career working in research and analytics for corporations such as Cognizant, UBS and RRD. In 2009, a car accident left Justin paralyzed neck downwards but that did not stop him from becoming an international para-swimming champion with a host of gold medals, ranked in the top 15 at the 2015 IPC World Swimming Championship, Glasgow and in the top 5 at the Para Asian Games, Jakarta. He is also a two-time national rifle shooting champion. He is an alumnus of the US Government’s sports diplomacy exchange program for his vision and work to develop disability sports in India.
Justin is also a certified SCUBA diver, beach surfer and a father of a beautiful pair of twins and lives a colourful life, advocating for inclusion and workplace equity. Source : https://www.thespinalfoundation.org/team/
Pilar Zhang Qiu
Imperial College London
Pilar Zhang Qiu is a creative designer, thinker and maker who is passionate about product development, especiallhy in the biomedical engineering field. She particularly enjoys user-centered design and bringing meaningful devices to life through RP techniques and coding.
Source: https://www.pilarzhangqiu.com/about-me
Prof. PVM Rao
Mehra Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Design
Head, Department of Design
IIT Delhi
P. V. Madhusudhan Rao is professor in departments of mechanical engineering and design at IIT Delhi. He also serves as head of the department of design. He is a co-founder of Assistech lab in Khosla school of information technology, which works towards development of assistive technologies for empowerment of visually challenged. As a coordinator of IIT Delhi Design Innovation Center (DIC), he is also responsible for initiating and driving multiple programs in design, innovation & entrepreneurship.
His current teaching and research interests include product design & manufacturing, computer aided design & manufacturing, design for product life-cycle, and design of medical & assistive devices. He has authored more than 100 research papers in journals and conferences and serves on editorial boards of journal of computing and information science in engineering published by ASME (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers) and journal of smart and sustainable manufacturing systems published by ASTM (American Society of Testing of Materials). He has also served on the editorial board of International Journal of Machine Tools & Manufacture (Elsevier) and BMJ Innovations (BMJ Publishing Inc). He has supervised/supervising 20 students for Ph.D theses and about 50 students for their masters theses.
Source: https://web.iitd.ac.in/~pvmrao/
Dr Ravi Vaidyanathan
Reader in Biomechatronics
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Imperial College London
Dr Ravi Vaidyanathan is a Reader in Biomechatronics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London where he leads the Biomechatronics Laboratory. He earned his Ph.D. in biologically inspired systems at Case Western Reserve University (USA) and subsequently worked in industry, holding two directorships in control systems and medical engineering Prior to his post at Imperial, he completed a Senior Research Fellowship in Brain-Computer Interface at the University of Southampton, was a Research Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering at the US Naval Postgraduate School, and a Senior Lecturer in Biodynamics at the University of Bristol.
His academic research has translated in a range industrial projects including several new ventures based on principles established in his laboratory.
Dr. Sharan Srinivasan
Neurosurgeon and Director
Jain Institute Of Movement Disorders and Stereotactic Neurosurgery - JIOMSN
Chairman NewRo
Neuro rehab center
Completed MBBS from the prestigious Bangalore Medical College & Research Institute (BMCRI) 1992-1993 and is the First student to pass DNB neurosurgery from Karnataka state- completed on 2000. Dr. Sharan has performed over 8000 major brain and spine surgeries. He is a member of many national and international professional organizations and has given invited talks & chaired sessions in many regional, national & international conferences. He has been Nominated as the sole Indian national representative in the managing committee of the AOSNR – Asia Oceania Society for NeuroRehabilitation. He was a part of the core organizing committee in charge of WCNR2018 @ Mumbai (World Congress for NeuroRehabilitation)
Source: https://newrorehab.com/dr-sharan-srinivasan/
NeuroRo - Founded in 2012 by Dr. Sharan Srinivasan (a senior neurosurgeon with expertise in Stereotactic & Functional neurosurgery) and Dr Prathiba Sharan (Neuropsychologist & Neuro rehab expert), with support from their family and headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India, NewRo has demonstrated that comprehensive neurorehabilitation is possible, measurable and achievable. The cognition based model that NewRo has designed & follows diligently, has proven time and again that Neurorehabilitation, when instituted early and followed up intensely and systematically, leads to ‘magical’ results.
Source: https://newrorehab.com/about/
Soikat Moulic Ghosh
Associate Director – Technical & Quality Systems
Mobility India
Soikat a certified clinical Prosthetist and Orthotist, a graduate, involved in rehabilitation services since 1995. Currently holds the position of Assistant Director- technical, heading the rehabilitation services, product development and promotion and innovation unit. Has experience of technology transfer and setting up assistive device centres in various developing countries.
Is a member of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Govt. of India (GOI), working towards standardisation of assistive devices. Is an advisory committee member of Society for Biomedical Technology, Ministry of Defence, GOI. Is actively involved in conducting clinical trials of various assistive devices in the region developed by technical and research institutions.
Source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soikat-ghosh-moulic-20152416/?originalSubdomain=in
Mobility India - Mobility India (MI) established in Bangalore, as a Registered Society, in 1994 has been a progressive force in the disability, development and rehabilitation sector. MI provides Rehabilitation services in unreached areas, developing human resource to provide Prosthetics, Orthotics, Wheelchairs, Rehabilitation Therapy, Community Based Rehabilitation and Accessibility. Apart from these, the other key activities include Development & Promotion of Appropriate Technology at an affordable cost, assisting in poverty reduction programmes and access to education, healthcare, livelihood, sanitation and housing through Community Based Inclusive Development programs and Capacity Building & Partnership with Grassroot organisations.
Prof Vivek Sangwan
Assistant Professor
ME Department
IIT Bombay
Prof Vivek Sangwan is an Assistant Professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay). Prof Sangwan studied his PhD at the University of Delaware with the focus on Rehabilitation Devices.
Dr Zhiqiang Zhang
Associate Professor
School of Electronic & Electrical Eng
University of Leeds
Dr Zhang joined the University of Leeds since March 2016 as an academic staff, where he held a joint position in Body Sensor Network for Healthcare and Robot between School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and School of Mechanical Engineering. Dr Zhang received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010. Upon completion of my Ph.D. degree, he then moved to Imperial College London working as a research associate for five and half years.
His primary research interests are applying wearable/pervasive sensing technologies into healthcare and wellbeing research, with emphasis on wearable human motion analysis for different patients groups. Meanwhile, he is also interested in exoskeleton rehab robots and prosthetics control using wearable sensors.
(source: https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/electronic-engineering/staff/786/dr-zhi-qiang-zhang)