Meenakshi Chandra Sekar
| Grant Category: | Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award (Research) |
| Project Title: | Improving Patient Care by Empowering Community Pharmacist in India |
| Field of Study: | Allied Health |
| Home Institution: | University of Findlay, Findlay, OH |
| Host Institution: | Vignan Pharmacy College, Vadlamudi, Andhra Pradesh |
| Grant Start Month: | December 2023 |
| Duration of Grant: | Four months |
Brief Bio:
Dr. M. Chandra Sekar obtained his BPharm and MPharm from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, India. Then he earned a PhD at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and completed his postdoctoral work from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Following this, Dr. Sekar was a researcher at the University of Alabama in Birmingham where he made significant contributions to the area of phosphoinositide signaling.
Dr. Sekar then served as a pharmacist at the University of Cincinnati Hospital in Ohio for seven years before joining the University of Findlay as an associate professor in pharmaceutical sciences in 2007. He was promoted to full professor with tenure in 2013 and now also serves as the International Ambassador for Pharmacy Education for the University of Findlay. Earlier, in 2010, he started a study abroad program that enabled student and faculty exchanges between the University of Findlay and pharmacy colleges in India. Over the past decade, 40 students from each country have availed of this opportunity.
Dr. Sekar’s commitment to improving pharmacy practices in India has been recognized by the Indian Pharmacist Association – by bestowing him with the M.L. Khorana Memorial Award in 2018 and electing him as a fellow of the association in 2019. Dr. Sekar’s other honors include: being a fellow of the American Pharmacists Association; winning the B.M. Mittal Memorial Award from his alma mater, BITS; and winning the David L. Allen award for holistic teaching.
In his Fulbright-Nehru project, Dr. Sekar is studying the impact of pharmacist involvement in improving patient outcomes for hypertension and diabetes.