Dr. Pallavi Tiwari, an Indian research professor based at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, has been named one of the #100Women in India who are making a difference in their communities across the country.
#100Women is a joint campaign of Facebook and the Ministry of Women and Child Development of India, and we found many Indians with ties to the U.S. on the list.
Today we're highlighting Dr. Tiwari, who first studied in Indore before earning her master's and PhD from Rutgers University in the U.S. Her research focuses on brain cancer, and she recently developed a new MRI-based technique to help provide individualized treatment for brain tumors.
She will be recognized, along with the other 99 inspiring honorees, by President Mukherjee as part of the Republic Day celebrations. Click "Like" to congratulate Dr. Tiwari and the other #100Women on their achievements and their service to their communities. >#>USIndiaDosti>

PTI REPORTS

Indian cancer scientist develops software for cancer patients From Lalit K Jha
Washington, Dec 24 (PTI) An Indian scientist in the US has developed a new MRI-based technique to predict survival of patients with aggressive brain tumours and help them provide personalised therapy.
Dr Pallavi Tiwari's work is based on recent clinical findings that 90 per cent of the Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) recurrences occur close to the tumour margin, suggesting that malignant cells are present at the periphery of the tumour but are not visually discernible.
GBM is the most common and most aggressive cancer that begins within the brain.
"Less than five per cent of all GBM patients live for more than five years," Tiwari, a leading cancer researcher working at Case Western Reserve University, said.
She said that despite several advances in drug discovery and clinical trials for cancer treatment, all GBM patients still follow the same 'one-fits-all' treatment regimen.
Tiwari, who is from Madhya Pradesh, presented her new research before at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting recently.
"With Obama administration's push for personalised therapy, a pressing need in precision medicine is to identify patients with GBM who are suitable for specific clinical trials based on their tumour characterisation, instead of a 'one-size-fits-all' treatment," a media release said.
Unfortunately, this has not been feasible so far in the absence of reliable non-invasive and quantitative measurements regarding patient prognosis (likely outcome of the disease) in GBMs, Tiwari noted.
Tiwari and her team have shown on 62 patients that these computer-extracted features from tumour margins and its surrounding areas on MRI are together predictive of GBM outcomes, the press release said.
So far such an approach of investigating imaging features from normal-appearing areas outside of tumour margins has not been investigated.
Using computer techniques developed by Tiwari and her team, subtle information can be gleaned from normal-appearing regions (at tumour periphery) to allow for the ability to reliably and non-invasively stratify patients based on their survival and can ultimately guide personalised therapeutic clinical trials in GBM.
Tiwari graduated from SGSITS in Indore and moved to United States to get a PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering.
She is currently a research assistant professor in Biomedical Engineering and since 2012 has been working in early diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment evaluation of brain tumours.

Dr. Pallavi - Profile : Pallavi Tiwari PhD,Research Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland

A. Brief Introduction: Dr. Pallavi Tiwari (Age: 31 years) is a leading cancer researcher working at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and University Hospitals in Cleveland, United States. Over the last 9 years since she graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree (honors) from S.G.S.I.T.S Indore (India) in 2006, she has developed novel computerizedsolutions for early and reliable diagnosis and prognosis of cancers including prostate, breast, brain cancers, and neurological diseases including epilepsy, and cancer pain. Her research has so far evolved into 21 peer-reviewed international journal and conference papers, 18 peer-reviewed abstracts, 1 issued US patent, 1 patent application, and has so far received over $400,000 USD of funding for her cancer research. Dr. Tiwari has presented her work at several leadinginternational conferences such as Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention Society (MICCAI), Society for Photonics and Instrumentation Engineering (SPIE), IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI), International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), and Society of Neuro-oncology (SNO). Additionally, she has been a recipient of Coulter Translational awards for 3 consecutive years from 2013 to 2015,to build a sustainable technology for early identification of brain tumors. She has twice been nominated for National Institute of Health (NIH) Director's early independence award. Dr. Tiwari was a key member of the graduate student team selected as one of the top 10 teams for the IDEA translational award.
She is currently leading a team of clinical and scientific researchers on evaluating effects of radiotherapy and laser interstitial thermal therapy on brain tumor patients via multi-parametric MRI. She is building newcomputationaltechniques on MRI for predicting patient outcome in cancer patients. These tools will ultimately pave the way for targeted treatment regimens, and early identification of tumor, while reducing unnecessary surgical interventions in cancer patients. Dr. Tiwari has been mentoring over 10 undergraduate and graduate students in performing cutting-edge cancer research. She is a major proponent of women in science and technology and has been involved with several organizations promoting women in science and engineering.

Awards, Honors, and Recognition
> Part of the team that was awarded the Innovation Award, Case School of Engineering, 2014
> Honorable Mention Award, Neurology Research Day, CWRU, 2014
> Cum Laude for Best Poster Presentation, Conference on Image Guided Interventions, SPIE, 2014
> Honorable Mention Award for Best Poster Presentation, Conference on Computer Aided Diagnosis, The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) Medical Imaging, 2014
> Invited Participant, National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI) on Imaging Science, 2013
> CWRU nomination for NIH Director's Early Independence Award, 2013 - Early investigator award allows for transitioning to a faculty position directly after PhD
> Rutgers nomination for NIH Director's Early Independence Award, 2012
> Nominated for Best Graduating Student Award -School of Engineering, Rutgers University, 2012
> Travel Award, Society of Women in Engineering, Mathematics (SciWomen), Rutgers University, 2011
> Selected to represent Rutgers University at CRA-W Graduate Cohort, 2010
> Department of Defense Pre-Doctoral prostate cancer research award, 2010
> Travel award, Graduate School of Engineering, Rutgers University, 2009
> Honorary Mention Award for Best Poster Presentation, SPIE, 2008
> Finalist - Top 10 entrepreneurial ideas in BME Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship Design Competition (IDEA), 2008.
> Young Scientist Award, Runners up, MICCAI, 2007
> Travel Award, MICCAI society, 2007
> Best Research Project, Runners up, International Biomedical Project Design Competition, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, 2005

B. Media Recognition:
> Work featured on Case Western's engineering website:"Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership awards $1 million in funding and support for promising biomedical engineering university technologies".

> "CCIPD/BME Graduate Student Wins Young Scientist Runners up at MICCAI 2014",
- Case Comprehensive Cancer Center News Letter, November 10th, 2014.
- The Daily, November 13th, 2014.

> Work featured in The Daily, Case Western Reserve local Newspaper, March 2014

> "Team from the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics Receives Coulter Translational Award", Featured in Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Newsletter, August 5, 2013

> Paper "Multi-Kernel Graph Embedding for Detection, Gleason Grading of Prostate Cancer via MRI/MRS" featured as number 2 article on medical and healthcare blog MDLinx (http://www.mdlinx.com), Dec 2012.

> "U.S. Patents Awarded to Inventors in Pennsylvania", Oct 2012
- http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2012/10/26/6681097.htm
- http://targetednews.com/disp_story.php>s_id=1103992
- http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story>dt=2012-10-26&val=639946&cat=material

> Spotlight on recent accomplishments by women graduate students, Rutgers School of Engineering (SoE) web page, October 12, 2010. Link: http://www.soe.rutgers.edu/lcib-recognizes-three-distinguished-graduate-students

> "Researchers Assess Severity of Prostate Cancers Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging", Press Release, August 9, 2010. Story featured on following sites
- Rutgers Today (http://alturl.com/rah5j)
- AAAS EurekAlert! (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/ru-rra081010.php)
- ScienceDaily.com (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100810163458.htm)
- www.physorg.com (http://phys.org/news200674429.html)
- www.news-medical.net (http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100811/Magnetic-resonance-image-analysis-helps-assessment-of-prostate-cancer-severity.aspx)
- www.radiologydaily.com (http://www.radiologydaily.com/daily/diagnostic-imaging/mri-taught-to-grade-prostate-tumors/)
- www.oncologynurseadvisor.com (http://www.oncologynurseadvisor.com/image-analysis-technique-may-help-identify-aggressive-prostate-cancers/article/178052/)
- www.healthcanal.com (http://www.healthcanal.com/cancers/9975-Rutgers-Researchers-Assess-Severity-Prostate-Cancers-Using-Non-invasive-Magnetic-Resonance-Imaging.html)
- www.mycentraljersey.com/ (http://blogs.mycentraljersey.com/heartbeats/2010/08/11/rutgers-researchers-assess-prostate-cancer-using-noninvasive-mris/)

> Featured in Rutgers Focus, July 2010 for representing Rutgers University at CRA-W workshop, organized for Women in Computing, Seattle, WA.

> "Students invent navigation system for the blind", 2006
- http://www.hindustantimes.com/news-feed/nm5/indore-students-make-navigation-system-for-blind/article1-57536.aspx
- http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-educationplus/technology-lends-a-helping-hand/article3210197.ece

Complete List of Published Work in My Bibliography: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/collections/bibliography/45751841

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FIF Founder Member Ashwani Lohani to takeover as Air India CMD

MMNN:21 Aug. 2015

Ashwani Lohani - a well known Tourism Professional who provided new identity Nationally and Internationally to the Madhya Pradesh Tourism. and turned the MPTDC into profit making unit appointed as the sick Air India's CMD.
FIF chairman Dr. Anoop Swarup while congratulating him for the coveted position and confidence shown by the tourism Ministry in Sh. Lohani.
Mr. Shiv Harsh Suhalka, secretary General and Editor in chief, MetroMirror.com wished Mr. Lohani a very fruitful tenure at Air India.
Mr. Suhalka said that Mr. Ashwani Lohani is a person with Right skills, Right Attitude, and Right integrity. He is known as the turnaround man with caliber & confidence who is always ready to take up new challenges.
The appointment committee of the union cabinet gave the approval for a tenure of three years, or until further orders, whichever is earlier, sources told" Lohani is a perfect choice for the airline in view of his long experience with public sector undertaking and operational experience as Divisional Railway Manager in Delhi," the source added.
An Indian Railway Service officer of 1980 batch , Lohani's experience of running PSUs dates back to 2002, when he was the CMD of Indian Tourism Development Corporation, where he was credited for turning around Ashoka Hotel in Delhi by turning it profitable after years of losses.
A qualified mechanical engineer, Lohani is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and transport. Current Air India CMD Rohit Nandan's one-year extension ends on Thursday.

IIAS gets its first woman chairperson

Sep 10,2014

NEW DELHI: Political scientist Chandrakala Padia, vice-chancellor of Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner will be the new chairperson of the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. She will be the first-ever woman chairperson of IIAS.

Her predecessor Gopalkrishna Gandhi had resigned immediately after BJP came to power.

Padia who studied and taught political science at the Banaras Hindu University was dean, faculty of social sciences before taking over as VC last year. Padia was heading the Banaras chapter of Russell Society, a US-based organization propagating the philosophy of the mathematician-philosopher. In BHU, Padia edited a volume -- Bharatiya Manisha Ke Agradoot: Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya -- on the university founder.