This initiative is led by Prof Arijit Mukhopadhyay. A Professor in Precision Health at the University of Salford (Manchester, United Kingdom). In India, the partners for this initiative are Organisation of Rare Disease, India (ORDI) and CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi, India.
Key Stakeholders :
Prof Arijit Mukhopadhyay
Professor of Precision Health
University of Salford, United Kingdom
Adjunct Prof: CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi and MAHE, Manipal, Karnataka
Prof Arijit Mukhopadhyay is a researcher in human genetics since 1999. He has been a Principal Investigator leading a research group on genetic basis for human diseases since 2007 and have worked across different countries and continents. He has supervised 16 PhD students to completion and has published over 70 peer reviewed articles in international journals (>3100 citations; h-index 31). A major part of Prof Mukhopadhyay’s career is focused on genetics of eye diseases – especially glaucoma. He and his colleagues were the first to report the genetic basis of primary open angle glaucoma from India. He has taken major initiatives on public outreach and awareness about genetic basis of glaucoma and the benefits of Genetic Counselling.
His publications are available here
Dr. Suneeta Dubey
Medical Director & Director – Glaucoma Services & Quality Assurance
Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, New Delhi, India
Dr. Suneeta Dubey is a senior glaucoma specialist with over 30 years of experience in clinical care, surgical innovation, academic training, and quality leadership. As the Medical Director at Dr. Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, she has led high-volume tertiary glaucoma services and pioneered the introduction of MIGS techniques like Trabectome in India. She has a special interest in pediatric and refractory glaucomas, and her research contributions span over 150 scientific publications. Dr. Dubey is currently the Principal Investigator of an ICMR-funded project investigating exosome-based biomarkers in primary glaucoma, aligning her work with translational genetics in eye disease. She also serves on national expert panels and has mentored over 100 fellows globally.
Dr Swati Upadhyaya
Glaucoma Consultant
Aravind Eye Hospital, Pondicherry
Dr. Swati Upadhyaya is a senior glaucoma consultant at Aravind Eye Hospital, Pondicherry, one of the branches of the world’s largest eye care provider, Aravind Eye Care System. With more than 15 years of experience in the field of glaucoma, she has been keenly involved in training postgraduates and fellows both academically and surgically. She is one of the pioneers of Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgeries (MIGS) in India and has trained many fellows and colleagues in the same.
She also takes care of congenital, childhood and juvenile glaucoma at her institute and is actively involved in genetic analysis of JOAG patients.
Her goal is to find a cure for glaucoma and develop strategies for early detection and timely reversal of glaucoma related blindness.
Dr Asim Kumar Sil
Medical Director and Consultant Ophthalmologist at Netra Niramay Niketan, Vivekananda Mission Ashram, Chaitanyapur, West Bengal
Dr Asim Sil is an ophthalmologist with over three decades of experience in rural eye care across the southern districts of West Bengal. He holds an MBBS from R.G. Kar Medical College, Kolkata, a DO from Aligarh Muslim University, and a DNB (Ophthalmology) from Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai. He also earned an MSc with Distinction in Community Eye Health from the International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH), University of London.
Dr. Sil has led eight population-based surveys on adult and childhood blindness in partnership with the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB), Sightsavers, and Orbis, contributing significantly to evidence-based public eye health strategies in India.
Dr. Subhra Sil
Consultant Ophthalmologist at Netra Niramay Niketan, Vivekananda Mission Ashram, Chaitanyapur, West Bengal
Dr Subhra Sil is an ophthalmologist with specialized expertise in low vision rehabilitation and corneal care. She completed her MBBS from NRS Medical College, Kolkata, and DNB (Ophthalmology) from Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai. Dr. Sil received advanced training in low vision from the Hong Kong Society for the Blind and Lighthouse International, New York, and in cornea from LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, and the Moran Eye Institute, Utah, USA.
She began her career in 2001 as a full-time ophthalmologist at Vivekananda Mission Ashram Netra Niramay Niketan (VMANNN), a 100-bed rural eye hospital in Chaitanyapur, West Bengal. There, she established the region’s first Low Vision Clinic and Rural Eye Bank and served as the founding head of the Institute of Ophthalmic Training. Dr. Sil also led the organization of large-scale paediatric low vision services in West Bengal in collaboration with the Sarva Shiksha Mission’s inclusive education programme. Since 2014, she has been heading the VMANNN Chandi (Amtala) branch in South 24 Parganas, continuing her dedicated service to rural and community-based eye care.
Dr Anil K Mandal
Senior Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Centre for Sight, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, Telangana.
Dr. Anil K Mandal, MD, is a Senior Consultant Ophthalmologist at Centre for Sight, Hyderabad, with nearly four decades of experience in managing pediatric and adult glaucoma. Formerly associated with the L V Prasad Eye Institute for 35 years, he is globally recognized for managing the largest series of childhood glaucoma cases with the longest follow-up.
A graduate of NRS Medical College, Kolkata, and an alumnus of AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr. Mandal’s work spans clinical care, research, and education. His contributions to glaucoma genetics, quality of life studies, and combined cataract-glaucoma management have earned him over 160 peer-reviewed publications and multiple national and international accolades, including the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award—the first for an ophthalmologist. He is the Senior President of the Indian Pediatric Glaucoma Society and a Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences.
Prasanna Kumar Shirol
Co-founder & Executive Director
Organization for Rare Disease India
ORDI is an Umbrella organization that represents 7000+ diseases in India. He has been instrumental in a national level advocacy for Rare Disorders for the past 11 years.
Prasanna has also Co founded and presided over a first national level parents support group for children with ultra-rare diseases (Lysosomal Storage Disorder Support Society India), with the goal of raising awareness and shared resources. Under his leadership, this society started observing International Rare Disease day for the first time in India on a national scale in 2010. He also started the Pompe Foundation in India, a specialized group focused solely on uniting and empowering patients and their families with Pompe. He has worked extensively to create awareness on LSD and Rare diseases in India since 2008. He has represented India in various conferences and meetings internationally. He has developed a strong network of international Rare diseases and their parents groups.
Dr. Dipanjana Datta
Organization for Rare Disease India
(State coordinator for West Bengal)
Genetic Counsellor & Scientific Advisor, Rare Warriors Bengal Association
Dr. Dipanjana Datta, PhD, is a BGCI Level II certified Genetic Counsellor with over 14 years of experience in human genetics. She serves as State Coordinator for the Organization of Rare Diseases India and is affiliated with leading institutions including the Institute of Child Health and Apollo Genomics Institute, Kolkata. A published researcher with over 768 citations, Dr. Datta also holds a patent for biomarker discovery in head and neck cancer. Her ongoing work spans genetic studies in rare diseases, paediatric nephrology, and public health screening.
Dr. Moulinath Acharya
Associate Professor
BRIC-National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (BRIC-NIBMG), Kalyani.
Dr. Moulinath Acharya is trained in human genetics and molecular biology. His primary research area includes investigating heterogeneity in oligogenic diseases with neuronal defects, specifically glaucomatous neurodegeneration, neuromuscular disorders, and dementia. His Neurodegeneration research group (NDRG) in NIBMG, primarily engaged in investigating genomic signatures, causal or acting as genetic modifiers, identified from high-throughput genome analyses (GWAS and/or WES), followed by functional validation in zebrafish and mechanistic understanding in cell culture models. Dr. Acharya graduated with a M.Sc in Zoology from the Banaras Hindu University with specialization in Molecular and Applied Clinical Genetics and later completed Ph.D in Molecular and Human Genetics from the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata. Further, he moved to the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Alberta, Canada for his post-doctoral training. In 2012, Dr. Acharya joined the BRIC-NIBMG as a faculty. Dr. Acharya takes keen interest in science communication and outreach activities. He was selected as a member of the Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS) under the aegis of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) for a period of five years (2017-2022).
Dr. Mainak Sengupta
Assistant Professor
Department of Genetics, University of Calcutta
Dr. Mainak Sengupta has been teaching Genetics and Genomics in the University of Calcutta from 2012 and is engaged in research pertaining to understand the molecular genetics of human traits and disorders. Utilising bioinformatics, genetics and cell-biology approaches, Dr. Sengupta intends to identify genetic variants associated with human disorders like Wilson’s disease and cigarette smoke induced Lung Cancer as well traits like human well-being and sleep. He has been actively associated with development of Indian Genetic Disease Database, a compendium of patient-specific disease variants reported from India. Dr. Sengupta has also been an active member of Rotary, wherein, he focuses on service projects on health and disease prevention.
Dr Sanjay Ghawana, Phd
Head R&D Uncoded
Premas Life Sciences Pvt Ltd.
Dr Sanjay Ghawana brings with him 20 years of work experience with expertise in areas of molecular biology, genomics, proteomics, microbial research and next generation sequencing. His research experiences include postdoctoral research at NIPGR, Delhi University and Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan on different aspects of genomics and RNA decay mechanisms. He holds a PhD in Biotech from CSIR-IHBT Palampur with focus on Molecular aspects of Low temperature stress in high altitude plants from Himalayas and a Masters in Plant Molecular Biology from Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Delhi University.
He has been associated with Premas Life Sciences for the last 11 years. Currently, he is spearheading the R&D department for development of NGS assays. He has also served as Zonal Applications Manager (North, East and West India), along with his team providing support on various NGS applications, troubleshooting’s, projects, trainings to key institutions across the region.
Our Advisors:
- Prof B K Thelma
- Prof Madhulika Kabra
- Prof Kunal Ray
