M.R.Rajagopal MD

• M.R.Rajagopal MD, 63 years. Chairman, Pallium India (Trust), a registered charitable organization which works towards promotion of pain relief and palliative care facilities in India (www.palliumindia.org)

• Director, Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences.

• One of the founders of Pain and Palliative Care Society in Calicut, which was formed in 1993, and which later became a WHO demonstration project, and grew to the present Institute of Palliative Medicine and a network of more than 100 pain centers in the state of Kerala, and prompted generation of several outside the state.

• Works with Pain and Policy Studies group in Madison-Wisconsin, USA to remove regulatory barriers to availability of oral morphine for pain relief. Over an eight year period, this has resulted in simplification of narcotic regulations in 13 of India’s 28 states.

• Member of Editorial Board, of Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy and Indian Journal of Palliative Care.

• Chairman, Opioid availability committee of Indian Association of Palliative Care.

• Vice-chairman, Asia Pacific Hospice Network (APHN).

• Member, board of directors of International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) and International Association of Pain & Chemical Dependency (IAPCD)

• Author of one textbook, several book chapters and more than 35 papers in medical journals

• Awardee; Marie Nyswander Award for contributions to pain management – awarded by International Association for Pain and Chemical Dependency in 2008.

• Awardee: Award for Excellence in Pain Management in Developing Countries, International Association for Study of Pain, World Pain Congress, Sept-Oct 2010, Montreal.