Profile 

I got my medical degree (M.B.B.S.) from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India and a Ph.D (Pharmacology) from the U. of Alberta (1965). I joined the Department of Medicine at McMaster University in 1983 as one of the initial recruits to the Intestinal Diseases Research Unit (IDRU) which later morphed to the IDRP (Programme).  Prior to that I had worked in diverse places (U. California, San Francisco, Hopital Necker des Enfants Malades and Hopital Bichat, Paris, France, Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Hospital in Boston). Much of my research in the IDRP focused on the mechanisms underlying the transport of ions across epithelial cells, in particular their regulation by nerves and autacoids.

Before coming to McMaster University, I had never heard of problem-based learning. My initial reaction was one of amusement and profound skepticism. All that evaporated when I began to see tutorial groups in action and recognized that the Founding Fathers of the Medical Programme had been remarkable in their prescience.  I became more and more involved with medical students, an involvement that rapidly transformed my professional life.

More details about my experimental studies as well as my educational activities are given in the following links:

Educational Activities

Publications on Educational Issues

Other Publications

Publications in Peer-Reviewed Journals

Problem-Based Learning / Writing

Awards

• President's Award for Excellence in Teaching (Educational Leadership), McMaster University, 1997
• Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Teaching Award, 1997
• MSU (McMaster Students Union) Teaching Award, 2002
• 3M National Teaching Fellowship (2008)

Membership of Editorial Boards

• Advances in Physiology Education
• Biochemical and Molecular Biology Education
• Journal of Epithelial Biology and Pharmacology

Membership of Societies

• American Physiological Society
• American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ABSMB)
• International Union of Pharmacology (IUPHAR)