Dr. Zavei Hiese was awarded the “Pratim Banerji Memorial Award- 2021” for his outstanding service by the Society for Ethnopharmacology (SFE) at the 8th International Congress of Society for Ethnopharmacology, 2021.
In a press release, the organising committee informed that the award was handed over by chief guest, Padma Vibhushan, former director general, Council of Scientific & Industrial research (CSIR), & former secretary to government of India, Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar.
The congress was held from August 27 – 29 at Pune, Maharashtra and was organised by Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed University), Poona College of Pharmacy and all Pharmacy Colleges in Pune along with SFE.
Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar said that progress and dissemination in the fields of medicine, herbs and pharmaceuticals would help boost confidence and make India truly self-sufficient (Atmanirbhar) in healthcare.
Meanwhile, in his keynote address, national research professor, AYUSH and former vice president, UGC, Dr. Bhushan Patwardhan also said that the Indian researchers need to research, collect and preserve information on traditional medicine which had become the need of the present time.
This inaugural ceremony was graced by vice chancellor, Bharti Vidyapeeth, Dr. Manikrao Salunkhe, vice president, society for ethnopharmacology, Dr. C. K. Katiyar, vice president, society for ethnopharmacology, Dr. Indranil Das, secretary, society for ethnopharmacology Dr. Pulok Mukherjee, chairman, organising committee, SFEC 2021, Dr. K. R. Mahadik, secretary, local organising committee, SFEC 2021, Dr. L. Satyanarayanan and principal, Poona College of Pharmacy Dr. Atmaram Pawar.
It may be mentioned that the main objective of the conference was to promote and disseminate progress in the fields of traditional medicine, herbs and pharmaceuticals and translate them into product development.
The conference mainly included research studies on ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy.
A total of 70 lectures on various aspects of medicinal plants and pharmacology were organised during the conference.
About 600 researchers from 25 countries, from various universities participated in the conference virtually. 400 research papers were also presented.