Mario Vaz ([email protected])

Dr Mario Vaz completed his MBBS at St. John’s Medical College, in Bangalore in 1984. He then worked as a medical officer and field worker in leprosy and tuberculosis at the Emmaus-Swiss Leprosy Project in Palamaner in Andhra Pradesh for 3 years as part of the rural service bond of St. John’s. He returned to complete his MD in Physiology at St. John’s Medical College in 1992 where his research work focused on the regulatory role of the autonomic nervous system in chronic undernutrition. He followed this with a Fellowship at the Baker Medical Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia for 2 ½ years working on the role of the sympathetic nervous system in obesity and obesity related hypertension. He is currently Professor at the Dept of Physiology and a researcher at the St. John’s Research Institute. He is also Head of the Division of Health and Humanities at the St. John’s Research Institute and in charge of the Maj Gen SL Bhatia Museum of the History of Medicine. His more current interests are in the field of history of medicine and bioethics.