Dr Naranjan S Dhalla earned his BSc from Panjab University (India) in 1957, his MSc from the University of Pennsylvania (USA) in 1963 and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh (USA) in 1965. Dr Dhalla served as Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University (USA) for two years before moving to the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he has remained for more than 40 years. Dr Dhalla served as the Founding Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences at the St Boniface Hospital Research Centre (Winnipeg, Manitoba) from 1987 to 2006; his expertise lies in the subcellular and molecular basis of heart disease. Dr Dhalla has published more than 600 peer-reviewed research articles, approximately 200 full-length articles as book chapters and 600 abstracts. His research on the subcellular basis of heart disease has been cited more than 10,000 times. He has edited or authored more than 40 textbooks on the aspects of the heart. His research accomplishments have not gone unrecognized by his peers. He has been invited to speak at 500 national and international conferences, and academic institutions around the world. Dr Dhalla has received more than 150 honours and awards from many countries including an MD (Honours) from Charles University (Prague) in 1995, and a DSc (Honours) from Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovakia) in 1997, Panjab University in 2009, and Guru Nanak Dev University (India) in 2010. He was awarded an Honorary Professorship of the Peking Union Medical College (Beijing, China) in 1991 and the Xian Medical University (China) in 1992, as well as Professor Honoris Causa of the Faculty of Medicine, Carol Davila University (Romania) in 1996. He has received the Order of Canada, Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada, Medal of Honour of the Canadian Medical Association and the Research Achievement Award from the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. For the past 40 years, Dr Dhalla has dedicated his life to serving the international cardiovascular research community. He served the International Society for Heart Research as its Secretary General/President over a 20-year period. For the past 25 years, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. He has been on the Editorial Boards of 14 international scientific journals. Since 1996, he has served as Executive Director of the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences, which promotes educational activities all over the world. Part of his proudest legacy is the 160 fellows and students whom he has trained and who are conducting independent research around the globe. Dr Dhalla is currently a Distinguished Professor and Director of Cardiovascular Development at the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, St Boniface Hospital Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba.
Dr Naranjan S Dhalla