Dr. P. Pushpangadan

Palpu Pushpangadan is the former Director of the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow and the Padma Shri Awardee of the Government of India in 2010. He is also a former Director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute (JNTBGRI), Kerala and Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram. Dr. Pushapangadan is the Norman Borlaug Awardee in 1997 for his unique work on biodiversity studies. He is worldly known for the establishment of the “TBGRI-Kani Model of Benefit-sharing ‘, which won the 2002 UNDP (United Nations Development Programmes) ‘Equator Initiative Prize” for innovation in poverty eradication and sustainable development. Born on 23 January 1944 at Prakkulam in Kollam district of Kerala, Pushpangadan is known for his contribution to plant sciences especially in Etnhopharmagology research.  He has got multidisciplinary training in cytogenetics, plant breeding, bioprospecting, biotechnology, conservation biology, ethnobiology, ethnopharmacology, and pharmacognosy. He has published about 317 research papers/articles in various national and international journals, authored/edited 15 books, and contributed 41 chapters in books on taxonomy, plant breeding, conservation biology, biotechnology, ethnobiology, ethnopharmacology, IPR, etc. Filed/Awarded 85 patents in herbal drugs/products jointly with other scientists. 15 of his patented products are already commercialized worldwide.