He is a Chairman of Dr. A. Ramachandran’s Diabetes Hospitals and President of India Diabetes Research Foundation (IDRF). Chennai, India.
He started his research work in diabetes in 1975. His areas of interest cover epidemiology of diabetes, cardio-metabolic risk factors in adults and children, primary prevention of diabetes, mobile health technology, biochemical aspects, cost –effective modes of intervention and quality of diabetes care in India. Major projects have been executed in collaboration with research institutes of excellence including the Imperial College, London, University of Cambridge, UK, Amsterdam of Medical Centre, Melbourne’s Bakers Heart and Diabetes Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland, University of Emory, United States, Magdeburg University, Governmental agencies such as Ministry of Health and Quality of Life (Mauritius), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (India), Indian Council of Medical Research, Drug Controller of General of India, Department of Public Health (Tamil Nadu) and International agencies including the WHO, European Union, MRC London, Population Health Research Institute and World Diabetes Foundation.
He was the first to publish the high prevalence of Diabetes in Native Asian Indians. Several unique characteristics of Asian Indians with respect to their risk profile and response to therapeutic interventions have been highlighted. The Indian Diabetes Prevention Programmes (IDPP) conducted by him has contributed significantly to the understanding of the preventive methodologies specifically effective in the Indian population. The projects conducted by his team have been instrumental in influencing the Government of India to initiate the “National Programme for Prevention and Control of Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke” (NPCDS), in 2008. His recent studies on mHealth have provided the evidence base on the utility of text messaging to promote lifestyle changes in people at high risk of diabetes. His commendable work of international standard has put India in the world map of diabetes research especially in the field of epidemiology and primary prevention of diabetes.
He established India Diabetes Research Foundation and Dr.A.Ramachandran’s Diabetes Hospitals in 2007 for patient care, diabetes research, training and education.
He has published more than 300 research papers till date. His study of using mobile technology for Life style modification and prevention of type 2 diabetes has been a pioneering contribution showing the role of information technology in health.
He is a visiting professor in the division of diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism, department of medicine, Imperial College, London, UK. In 2011, he was awarded the best investigator award by World India Diabetes Foundation (WIDF) based in US and Life time Achievement Award by South Asian Health Foundation, (SAHF), UK, for the Research in Diabetes Prevention in India. In 2015, he was awarded the Thomson Reuters Research Excellence Citation India Award in Medicine. India Diabetes Research Foundation received health care Access Award for the highest level of contribution in the field of Diabetes Research from Organisation of Pharmaceutical producers of India (OPPI) in 2017.