Dr. Sridevi Venigalla

Dr. Sridevi Venigalla currently working as Research Officer (Ayurveda) at CCRAS-National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage, Hyderabad, Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, in New Delhi. She completed BAMS (1989-1995) and her M.D.(Ayurveda) in Dravyaguna (1997-2000) from Dr. B.R.K.R. Government Ayurveda College, Hyderabad, Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh She is recipient of Dr. Achyuta Lakshmipathi Rao gold medal for the year 1994 for scoring highest marks in BAMS. She worked as Project Trainee and Research Associate at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and engaged in technical support in Ayurveda literature and HPLC analysis of Herbal drugs (March 2001-October 2002); and as Senior Research Fellow (Ayurveda) at Department of Rheumatology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad in CSIR-NMITLI Project with respect to randomized clinical studies on Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis (June 2003 – January 2006).

In 2006, she joined as Research Officer (Ayurveda) in Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (formerly known as Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha) and posted at Captain Srinivasa Murti Drug Research Institute for Ayurveda (CSMDRIA), Chennai. During four-years tenure (January 2006 to April 2010) at CSMDRIA, Chennai, the Officer engaged in the development of Standard Operating Procedures for the preparation of Ayurvedic formulations and their pharmacopeial standards; maintenance of Pharmacy and other Ayurveda technical works. In between, she has been deputed to Council Hqrs in connection with work related to campaign on Ksharasutra and Geriatrics and preparation of monograph on Chikungunya.

During 2010-2018, she worked at National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage, Hyderabad – a CCRAS Institute dedicated to literary research and medico-historical studies in Ayush systems. During the above period, she has been involved in the preparation of e- Nighantu (25 Ayurveda works on Materia medica) and Ayurveda Enclyopedia – a work on about 3000 Ayurvedic Technical Terms, which is published in three volumes in 2013. As Principal Investigator published a comprehensive work on Ayurvedic Ophthalmology tilted ‘Ayurvediya Salayatantra – Netraroga Vijnana’ in 2016.  Apart from this, the Officer worked as Co-Investigator in Ayush Research Portal and co-ordinated the project during 2016-2018 and Sanskrit to English translation of Vaidyacintamani. As a part of Celebration of 50 Glorius Years of CCRAS – Dr. V. Sridevi has been assigned the work of preparation Glimpses of CCRAS Contributions in Medico-historical Studies and Literary Research; and the monograph published in 2019.

From 2018-2020, at CCRAS Headquarters, the Officer engaged in the work of Textual validation of Local Health Traditions and Ethnomedical Practices documented by CCRAS under Tribal Health Care Research Program (THCRP) and Medico-Ethnobotanical Survey (MEBS) Program during 2007-2018. The outcome of LHTs documented under THCRP are published in the form a book tilted “Local health traditions (LHTs), oral health traditions (OHTs) and Ethno-medicinal practices (EMPs): Methodical approach and critical appraisal to Establish novelty and uniqueness” (2021). This work discusses Local Health Traditions pertaining 348 plant species documented through field surveys in 58 districts of 19 States/Territories of different agro-climatic zones across India by 16 CCRAS- Peripheral Institutes under Tribal Health Care Research Program. The unique of presentation of this work includes validation of LHTs through a methodical approach to establish their novelty and uniqueness. Validation of Local health traditions based on Classical Ayush literature is first of its kind and not found in works of Ethnomedicinal literature.

From September 2020 to January 2021, the Officer worked as Incharge at Regional Ayurveda Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram and coordinated technical and administrative works of the Institute. From January 2021 to till date, she has been working at CCRAS – National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage, Hyderabad. As Co-Investigator, she has been coordinating IMR Projects: Ayush Research Portal and Ayush Manuscript Advanced Repository (AMAR); and a Principal Investigator working in Sanskrit to English Translation of Abhinava Chintamani; E-MEDHA (part of E-Granthalaya), and Preparation of Inventory of LHTs and EMPs of India by collating data from peer reviewed articles, books and Ph.D. thesis. A work on ‘Editing of Sanskrit text and Hindi translation of Abhinavacintāmaṇī published by CCRAS is under publication.

Dr. V. Sridevi has provided technical assistance in more than eight books/ Monographs/ Dossiers published by Council and authored/ co-authored five papers. She provided editorial assistance for the Journal of Indian Medical Heritage and as reviewer in Journal of Drug Research in Ayurvedic Science (JDRAS), International Journal of Ayurveda Research, Journal of Research in Siddha.