Professor Narinder Mehra is the former Dean (Res) and National Chair of the prestigious All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi and currently holds the Honorary position as Emeritus scientist. He is also mentor to SRL Laboratories and the Reliance Life Sciences. He is an internationally acclaimed expert in the area of Transplant Immunology and Clinical Immunogenetics, for which his singular efforts culminated in establishing this specialty for the first time in India in the 1980s, thus facilitating solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT) in the country.
In 1986, he spent a period of two years as ‘Guest Researcher’ at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, USA for two years. His research domain encompasses investigating the immunological aspects of infectious and autoimmune diseases, potential role of HLA matching and influence of alloantibodies on transplant injury, stem cell biology and regenerative medicine among others. He was responsible for preparing the National guidelines for stem cell research in India.
Prof Mehra has been the President of the Indian Immunology Society, four terms councilor for the International Union of Immunological Societies, co-chair of the IUIS Gender equality committee and founder Secretary-General of the Federation of Immunological Societies of Asia-Oceania.
He is a Fellow of several science academies including the Indian National Science Academy, Member Honoris Causa of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and ‘Fellow’ of The World Academy of Sciences (FTWAS). He served as chief Editor of ‘Frontiers in Immunology’ special issue on ‘Clinical relevance of antibodies in solid organ transplantation’.
Professor Mehra has nearly 100 awards and academic honors to his credit. Some of the significant ones include S.S. Bhatnagar Awardof the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (considered to be the highest award for science in India), Ranbaxy Science Foundation Award, O.P. Bhasin Science Foundation Award, Chief of the Army Staff Award and Dr B.R. Ambedkar award of ICMR for excellence in Medical Research. In 2003, the French President, conferred on him the title of ‘Chevalier of the National Order of Merit’. He also received the highest International Award from the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology. He wasamember of theinternational jury for the Else Kroner Fresenius International Award in Immunology and CIHR-IRF joint research projects.
Professor Mehra and his group have published more than 480 original research papers in leading international journals. His book ‘The HLA System in Medicine and Biology’ received high international acclaim. He has trained 40 Ph.Ds. and more than 50 MD/MS postgraduates in the area of clinical Immunogenetics and Transplant Immunology.