Top image: Dancing at The Winter Garden, NY
3/2022: In collaboration with Dr. Parnia's lab, I organized a panel entitled "Lucid Dying: Exploring Brain and Consciousness at the End of Life".
What happens to our brain, mind, and consciousness as we die? While a lot remains unknown about death, our understanding of this subject has evolved greatly in recent years. Death is the only experience that is guaranteed to every human being, and yet, the end of life is also one of life’s great mysteries. Research that seeks to illuminate the complex processes surrounding death in the brain, body, mind, and consciousness has wide-reaching implications for neuroscience, medicine, psychology, and philosophy.
One area that is currently being investigated by researchers relates to episodes of lucidity in those nearing death. This includes terminally ill patients with advanced, severe dementia and those who have transiently crossed beyond the biological threshold of death, during cardiac arrest. Researchers intrigued by this phenomena are trying to better understand how it may be possible for people to experience such episodes of lucidity and to identify specific markers for this phenomenon. Importantly, they are also trying to find out whether such episodes can lead to novel treatments for debilitating neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia, while also studying how these recalled experiences surrounding death are informing our understanding of what happens to us all at the end of life.
This panel discussion brought together leading physicians and researchers, including Dr. Lindsey Gurin, assistant professor of neurology and psychiatry, with expertise in neuro-rehabilitation at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. Megan Craig, associate professor of philosophy and art at Stony Brook University, with an interest in the mind-body problem, Dr. Anthony Bossis, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, conducting psychedelic research at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. Donald Hoffman, professor of cognitive science, studying consciousness at University of California, Irvine, and Dr. Sam Parnia, associate professor of medicine and director of Critical Care and Resuscitation Research at NYU Langone Health, dedicating his research to improving resuscitation techniques and understanding what happens to the human mind during and after cardiac arrest.
The panel explored the current scientific discoveries regarding our understanding of death. In particular, they will review the impact of recent discoveries related to the brain and consciousness that have wide ranging implications for society.
What happens to our brain, mind, and consciousness as we die? While a lot remains unknown about death, our understanding of this subject has evolved greatly in recent years. Death is the only experience that is guaranteed to every human being, and yet, the end of life is also one of life’s great mysteries. Research that seeks to illuminate the complex processes surrounding death in the brain, body, mind, and consciousness has wide-reaching implications for neuroscience, medicine, psychology, and philosophy.
One area that is currently being investigated by researchers relates to episodes of lucidity in those nearing death. This includes terminally ill patients with advanced, severe dementia and those who have transiently crossed beyond the biological threshold of death, during cardiac arrest. Researchers intrigued by this phenomena are trying to better understand how it may be possible for people to experience such episodes of lucidity and to identify specific markers for this phenomenon. Importantly, they are also trying to find out whether such episodes can lead to novel treatments for debilitating neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia, while also studying how these recalled experiences surrounding death are informing our understanding of what happens to us all at the end of life.
This panel discussion brought together leading physicians and researchers, including Dr. Lindsey Gurin, assistant professor of neurology and psychiatry, with expertise in neuro-rehabilitation at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. Megan Craig, associate professor of philosophy and art at Stony Brook University, with an interest in the mind-body problem, Dr. Anthony Bossis, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, conducting psychedelic research at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. Donald Hoffman, professor of cognitive science, studying consciousness at University of California, Irvine, and Dr. Sam Parnia, associate professor of medicine and director of Critical Care and Resuscitation Research at NYU Langone Health, dedicating his research to improving resuscitation techniques and understanding what happens to the human mind during and after cardiac arrest.
The panel explored the current scientific discoveries regarding our understanding of death. In particular, they will review the impact of recent discoveries related to the brain and consciousness that have wide ranging implications for society.
10/2021: I wrote an article for the Global Mental Health Action Network (GMHAN) summarizing the mental health effects of widowhood in India. I make the case that widows in India form an unseen, unheard population, facing stigmatization from society and their families, and that much more needs to be done to de-stigmatize widowhood and its mental health effects in the Indian setting. You can read the article here.
9/2021: I wrote a book chapter on the state of health in the aging population in the United States. The book is edited by Edmond Fernandes and Indu Grewal, and can be found here. A PDF version of the abstract is below.
| Urban Health for the Aging Population in the United States_Book chapter |
6/2021: I wrote this article published in United for Global Mental Health on how tackling the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of the elderly will benefit us all.
8/2021 - 4/2023: Board member, Pallium India USA
- I served on the board of Pallium India USA and help guide advocacy, research, clinical, and quality improvement initiatives related to palliative care.
- November 2022 - March 2023: Putting together a delegation for Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67) in March 2023 at United Nations Headquarters. The theme is “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.
- The virtual parallel event on "Empowering Women Caregivers: lessons from South Indian community-based palliative care" will be on March 2023.
- Additionally, in March 2023, with a few colleagues, I put in applications for the 13th Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Aging. We focused on access to healthcare services, social inclusion, contribution of older persons to sustainable development, and economic security for all older persons, but particularly older women.
- In November 2022, I helped edit and organized several abstracts that were submitted for the 30th International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPCON) conference. Abstracts ranged from educational activities of Pallium India, to the role of student volunteers to enable palliative care, to distress among caregivers, to palliative care needs of stroke patients.
- In May 2022, I helped organize a series of events to promote the book Walk with the Weary by Dr. M.R. Rajagopal in New York City. These included a book reading event at the Church of St Paul and St Andrew and an additional one at New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical Center. Sadly, the event at the church was canceled due to COVID, but the one with NY Presbyterian Hospital was held virtually.
- In June 2022, I moderated a session entitled "Inter-country perspectives in palliative care" with Public Health Literacy (PHL). The speakers for this webinar were: Dr. M.R. Rajagopal, Dr. Ann Broderick, Ms. Germaine Coleman RN, RMW from Jamaica and Olanrewaju Emmanuel Ajiboye Nigeria. A recording of this webinar can be found on Facebook Live.
- In June 2022, I helped organize Dr. M.R. Rajagopal's talk at the Hospice and Palliative Care (HAPC) Virtual didactics.
Below are the speaker bios for our March 15, 2023 event as part of UN Commission on Status of Women (UN CSW) - "Empowering Women Caregivers: lessons from South Indian community-based palliative care"
8/2020 - 2/2024: Consultant, Research and academic initiative at Pallium India
- Collaborating efforts of international academicians and researchers to serve important needs for Pallium India as mentors, collaborative co-writers, editors for grants, research proposals and publications.
- Lead author on an accepted peer-reviewed paper on the ethical considerations of palliative care practitioners to offer the HPV vaccine to offer relatives of a patient suffering from cervical cancer. The paper can be found here.
- Developing quantitative and qualitative methods to serve to strengthen the work of palliative care in India.
- Highlighting narratives and reflective works to provide the social and emotional context of the communities Pallium India serves every day.
- Supporting fundraising efforts to hire a research officer to help build a foundation of needs-based research and quality improvement with well-designed studies to improve the care of people with health-related suffering. The GoFundMe link is here. We raised more than $16,000 to support these efforts.
- Developing a proposal for International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) to incorporate palliative care in the undergraduate medical education in India.
- Helped develop a project to document antibiotic use in palliative care in resource-limited settings.
- Awarded a grant worth $7,000 over six months by the Global Research Partnership Award at the University of Iowa. This project aims to foster bilateral collaborations between Pallium India and University of Iowa to leverage their strengths to transform interdisciplinary communication and develop methods that work in high income and low-middle income palliative care health care settings.
- Helped refine the research module of hte Global Palliative Care Fellowship course offered by Pallium India.
2/2021 - 9/2021: I helped guide a detailed qualitative and quantitative assessment of services offered by Maitri India to elderly, abandoned women in Vrindavan and Radhakund. Additionally, we assessed the impact of COVID-19 on mental health, loneliness, and psychosocial health in the abandoned women at this facility.