Aravinda Kumar Balan

• Dedicated and accomplished professional with a profound passion for pharmacology from an esteemed academic institution in India.
• Possessing a solid academic background with a MD degree in Pharmacology, I bring extensive knowledge in the field coupled with 10 years of teaching experience.
• My expertise encompasses a wide array of pharmacological principles, and therapeutic applications.
• Committed to fostering an engaging learning environment, I have a proven track record of employing innovative teaching methodologies into the curriculum.
• Additionally, my research contributions in drug utilization research, clinical trials & patient safety reflect a commitment to advancing the field.

• Life member of Indian Pharmacological Society (LB-314)
• Life member of Indian Medical Pharmacologists Association (IMPA)
• Life member of International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical toxicology (IATDMCT)
• Life Member of Indian Society of Clinical Research (ISCR)

• Assistant Editor of Journal of Current Research in Scientific Medicine, PIMS
• CPCSEA Nominee since 2018
• Member of IAEC of Aarupadai Veedu Medical College, Puducherry (2020-21)
• Member of IAEC of Diligence Bio (Preclinical CRO), Puducherry (2021-23)
• Member of IAEC of JIPMER (2023)
• Member of IAEC of Pondicherry university (2023)
• Ex-Scientist In-charge of Animal House, PIMS (Member of PIMS - IAEC) 2016-21
• Secretary – PIMS Students Alumni Association
• CME committee member (Medical Education unit, PIMS) – 2017-21
• Ex-Joint Secretary/ Treasurer of PIMS Scientific Society – 2017 & 2018
• Member of Management of Medications committee, NABH
• NAAC Core committee member for criteria 8 – 2022
• Member Secretary – Career Guidance Cell, PIMS
• External Examinership for MBBS – JIPMER, MGR University - Tamilnadu, RGHUS – Karnataka, Bharath University, Saveetha University – Chennai
• NIRF co-ordinator

• National Workshop on Pharmacoeconomics at PIMS - June 2017
• Workshop on Pharmacovigilance - Basics to Advanced at PIMS - February 2018
• Organizing Secretary of PIMS Scientific Society Day/External Oration - PIMS, 2017
• Organizing Secretary of Advanced Workshop on Pharmacovigilance at PIMS- Nov 2018
• Organizing Secretary of Workshop on Health Economics and Outcome Research (HEOR) -PIMS – Nov 2019
• PIMS Alumni CME during every Graduation Day - 2014-23
• MedSafeCon 2023 - Conference on Medication safety

• Presented an oral paper at the Southern Regional Conference of Indian Pharmacological Society on “Reassessing Pharmacology in 21st Century”, Belagavi, February 12-13, 2016
• Presented a poster at the Third International and Sixth National Annual Conference of Indian Society for Rational Pharmacotherapeutics (ISRPTCON 2014) at JIPMER, Pondicherry, November 21-22, 2014
• Presented an oral paper at the XXXXV Annual Conference of Indian Pharmacological Society & International Conference on Navigating Pharmacology towards Safe & Effective Therapy, Nagpur, January 5-7, 2013
• Presented an oral paper at the 2nd Conference of the Indian Pharmacological Society (Pondicherry branch), PIMS, Pondicherry, April 26, 2012
• Presented a poster at the II National Conference on Basic Medical Sciences, Vinayaka Mission's Kirupananda Variyar Medical College & Hospital, Salem, April 13-14, 2012
• Presented a poster at the 13th Annual National Conference of Indian Society for Rational Therapeutics, 2021 (ISRPTCon2021), Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences, Indore, November 27-28,2021

• Dakshinamurthy Nishanthini, Balan Aravinda Kumar, Chandrashekaran Girish, Sadasivam Balakrishnan. Prescribing pattern of drugs for cardiovascular co-morbidities in type 2 diabetes mellitus in a tertiary care Indian hospital. J Pharmacol. Pharmacother. 2014;5(1): 54-6
• Nishanthini D, Jesudoss Prabhakaran AC, Aravinda Kumar B, Isabella Topno. Anti-inflammatory effect of aqueous extract of Emblica officinalis in animal models. International Journal of Advanced Research (2015), Volume 3, Issue 6, 671-677
• Aravinda Kumar B, Nishanthini D, Isabella Topno, Balakishnan S. The role of serotonergic system in the anxiolytic-like effect of Emblica officinalis in mice using hole board test. Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences 2015;10(3):11-4
• Kanagasanthosh K, Topno I, Aravinda Kumar. Prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use and drug utilization pattern in elderly patients: a prospective study from a tertiary care hospital. Int J Res Med Sci. 2015 Aug; 3(8):2062-2072
• Ajitha Sharma, Oommen Shweta, Aravinda Kumar B. Antidepressant-like activity of lutein-zeaxanthin in mice: evidence for involvement of monoaminergic and opioid systems. International Journal of Pharmacy and Technology (April) 2017;9(1):28551-28566
• Aravinda Kumar. Patterns of drug use and drug dispensing in dermatology outpatient prescriptions in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol. 2018 Aug;7(8):1494-1497
• Ramesh Kannan, Sakthi Balan, Aravinda Kumar, Ravichandran J, Manigandan G, Ananda Babu. A Randomized, Multicentric, Open Label, Interventional Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Tolerability of Four Types of Amrutanjan Pain Balms for Pain Relief in Patients with Primary Type of Headache and Body Pain Disorders. International Journal of Innovative Research in Medical Science. 2021;6(2):96-102
• J Jayasheela , B Aravinda Kumar, Isabella Topno, and Santhanalakshmi. Evaluation of Antianxiety-Like Activity of Astaxanthin and Its Possible Mechanism of Action Using Animal Models. Research Journal of Pharmaceutical, Biological and Chemical Sciences. 2021; 12(1):37-47
• Santhanalakshmi P, Alwar MC, Kumar BA, Oommen S, Topno I. Evaluation of Antidepressant-like Activity after Acute and Chronic Administration of Aqueous Extract of Abelmoschus Esculentus Seeds Using Animal Models of Depression.” Natl J Physiol Pharm Pharmacol. 2021; 11(1): 119-125
• Thangaraju P, Kumar BA, Venkatesan S. Vigilance in selection of low-dose versus high-dose steroids in COVID-19. Int J Infect Dis. 2021; 109:54-55.
• Ravichandran M, Srikanth S, Kumar BA, Munusamy R. "Efficacy and Safety of Eberconazole vs Sertaconazole in localised tinea infection". Indian J Dermatol.2021;66(5):573
• Thangaraju P, Balan AK, Velmurugan H, Venkatesan S, Yella SST. Leprosy Reactions: Clinical Pharmacologist Perspective with Repurposed Medications. Infect Disord Drug Targets. 2023;23(2):e070922208607.
• Kannan R, Muralikumar V, Annam V, Balan S, Kumar A, Mm S, Medasani R. A Randomized, Placebo Controlled, Double Blinded, Parallel Group Clinical Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of AEV01 for Mild COVID19 in Elderly Patients at Risk of Complications. Preprints 2022, 2022050094 (doi: 10.20944/preprints 202205.0094.v1).
• Kannan R, Bakthavatchalam S, Murugesan S, Kumar B A, Deb B, Marimuthu C, Rajendran P. A randomized, open-label, multicentered parallel-group clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Joint Core™ compared to Jointace DN™ in osteoarthritis patients. J Curr Res Sci Med 2022;8:44-51
• Muraleedharan A, Kumar B A. The malady of redundant publications: Common yet poorly understood. J Curr Res Sci Med 2022;8:95-8
• Thangaraju P, Sheth PG, Velmurugan H, Venkatesan S, Balan AK. A Change in the Trend of Quality Reporting in Leprosy Trials: A Systematic Review. Infectious Disorders Drug Targets. 2023 ;23(4) :e240223214010

BOOKS & CHAPTERS:

• Chapter on “Dermatological Pharmacology” In: Introduction to Basics of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Vol 2. Essentials of Systemic Pharmacology: From Principles to Practice: Springer Publications. (2021)
• Chapter on “NSAIDS in Neurology” In: A Pharmacological guide to Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory medications: Nova Science Publishers. (2021)

Was recently selected for a DHR (Department of Health & Research) sponsored workshop on "SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS & META-ANALYSIS". The selection was based on write-up of individual participants. Out of 231 applications from all over India, 30 were shortlisted after two levels of screening based on write-ups. Training was based on developing evidence/guidelines for treatments based on systematic reviews & meta-analysis.