Prof. Poonam Bala (Saxena)

Poonam Bala (Saxena) hails from Delhi, and a proud great great grand daughter of Raja Sohan Lal (an important royal official under the Mughals) of Old Delhi. She is a Sociologist and earned her Ph.D. degree on a Commonwealth Scholarship from the University of Edinburgh (UK), postdoctoral research at the Universities of London and Edinburgh, an M.Phil. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and graduate/undergraduate from Miranda House, University of Delhi. Recipient of several national and international fellowships, she has held a Visiting Professorship at Jawaharlal Nehru University, and at institutions in Germany, South Africa, India and Greece. Former faculty at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, and Professor at Amity University, she has taught and lectured in various universities in Canada, USA, Australia, South Africa and Germany. Currently a Visiting Scholar at Cleveland State University and nominated Fellow, UNISA (South Africa), she lectured at Harvard University (USA), University of Queensland (Australia) and delivered the Distinguished Dr. Upendranath Brahmachari Endowment Lecture (W.Bengal).

Pioneer of research on social history (medicine), she is the author of the path-breaking work, Imperialism and Medicine in Bengal: A Socio-Historical Perspective (Sage), she has a distinguished publishing career of several authored and edited books/research articles. Her select publications include Medicine and Colonialism: Historical Perspectives in India and South Africa (Routledge), Learning from Empire (Cambridge Scholars), amongst several others.

She was President of the First International Conference on Ancient Greek and Indian Medicine (Greece), and Founding Member of the Asian Indian Heritage Project (Ohio). She has been on the Editorial Board of the Ancient Science of Life and is on the Advisory Board of Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism, on the Editorial/Reviewers’ Board of the Athens Journal of Health, and Academic Member of Athens Journal of History.

Her other professional activities include an interview on the WCPN/FM National radio channel (USA) on The Social and Political background of Kashmir problem in India. She spoke at a debate session at the City Club of Cleveland on The Kashmir Dilemma in the Indian sub-continent as well as on the Relevance of Education System in Contemporary India at the Delhi Doordarshan Education Programme, New Delhi.

Note: I owe all my educational and other achievements to my dear (late) parents whose innumerable sacrifices to make these possible can hardly be translated into words.