Board of Advisors

Jagh Khalsa PhD
Chairman
Chief, Medical Consequences Branch
Division of Pharmacotherapy and Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse (DPMC)
National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH
6001 Executive Blvd., Room 4137, MSC 9551
Bethesda, MD 20892-9551
Dr. Jag Khalsa is the Chief of the Medical Consequences (MC) Branch, within the Division of Pharmacotherapies and Medical Consequences of Drug Abuse, National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He is trained in neuropharmacology, toxicology and epidemiology. The MC Branch is responsible for supporting domestic and international research on health and medical consequences of drug abuse and co-occurring infections including HIV, hepatitis, STDs, TB, and other opportunistic infections. The research programs include diseases/disorders of the heart, liver, and immune system; metabolic, endocrine and gastrointestinal disorders; pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic drug-drug interactions among drugs of abuse, and pharmacotherapeutic agents used in the treatment of infections (HIV, HCV) and drug addiction; and misuse of prescription drugs. He has authored several publications in the field of pharmacology, toxicology, epidemiology and medicine. He has received numerous awards of merit including ones from the FDA Commissioner, Director of FDA’s Bureau of Foods, NIDA Director’s Awards of Merit (3 in a row), NIH Director’s Award, and a citation from the United States Congress.

Walter Royal III MD
Member
Maryland Center for MS
11 South Paca St., 4th floor
Baltimore, MD 21201
Dr. Walter Royal is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine. He is also the Research Associate Director for the VA Multiple Sclerosis Center, East and for the Maryland Center for Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Royal has a laboratory which is researching the mechanisms by which members of a family of nuclear receptors are able to modulate proinflammatory immune responses in MS and in HIV-1 infection. Among the members of this receptor family are those that bind Vitamin A and Vitamin D. His research in HIV infection focuses on the interactions between retinoids and opioids in the modulation of immune responses and in the regulation of HIV-1 gene expression.

Dr. K. S. Ratnakar, MD, FICP, FICS, FIMSA
Member
Chairman, Global Medical Education & Research Center
Chief of Laboratory Sciences
Global Hospitals
Lakhdi Ka Phul
Hyderabad 500004, Andhra Pradesh
Having served at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and subsequently as the Dean,Prof & Head Of the Dept of Pathology,at the Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad,India, Dr. Ratnakar is currently the Chairman of the Global Medical Education and Research Center and the Chief of Laboratory Medicine of Global Hospitals, Hyderabad. Dr. Ratnakar was the Professor of Pathology, Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain, training the university students on Problem Based Learning. While he has a great passion for teaching, he was concerned with creativity in medical sciences and carried out research in the field of Malnutrition, Ociular Pathology, Stem cells etc. He was a visiting Professor to University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Pittsburg, Tufts University, Boston. He received the Guest of Honor of Vehoeff Society, USA. With over 200 scientific publications, equal number of presentations, over 15 awards, two books, several chapters in Pathology text books, he has keen interest in scientific publications. He was the Editor of the Indian Journal of Pathology and senior Associate Editor of Bahrain Medical Bulletin in addition to member of editorial board in several journals.

Kenny Anthony, LLM, PhD
Member
Opposition Leader & Ex. Prime Minister
St. Lucia Cabinet, St. Lucia
Dr. Kenny Anthony is the former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia from 1997 to 2006. Anthony is a graduate of the University of the West Indies and the University of Birmingham. Anthony was the Special Advisor to the Ministry of Education and Culture, and then the Minister of Education. He has been a member of the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) until he was elected leader of the Labor Party. Dr. Anthony, was also the Minister of Finance and Broadcasting.

Igor Grant, MD, FRCP
Member
Department of Psychiatry (0680)
School of Medicine University of California
San Diego La Jolla, California 92093-0680
Dr. Grant is Professor and Executive Vice-Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He is Director of the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center (HNRC), the California NeuroAIDS Tissue Network (CNTN), the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR), the CNS HIV Antiretroviral Therapy Effects Research (CHARTER) and the NIDA-funded program project "NeuroAIDS: Effects of Methamphetamine" Dr. Grant is the founding Editor of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society and founding co-editor of the journal AIDS and Behavior.