Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mehta Family Foundation (MFF), Houston, Texas, USA, to establish the ‘Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology.’ This New School at IIT Guwahati will commence academic activities during the current academic year.

The MoU was signed virtually on May 14. Prof Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, said “The School will bring in the budding academic leaders in the closest proximity of world-class educationists, scientists, physicians, technologists, and entrepreneurs, which may catalyze high-impact research, diminish expensive biomedical imports, and engender an academic curriculum that substantiates the vision of a sustainable society.”

The Jyoti and Bhupat Mehta School of Health Sciences and Technology has launched a new Master’s and PhD programmes in Health Sciences and Technology from this academic year. The first batch of 20 M.Tech students in the stream of Biomedical Science and Engineering will be admitted to IIT Guwahati through GATE 2022.

Prof TG Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “We will inculcate cutting-edge education and research in the areas related to therapeutics, diagnostics, prosthesis, implantation, bioinformatics, molecular biology, regenerative medicine, stem cells, public health, and health data analytics, among many others. The impact of such translational education and research is rather far-reaching since they will not only fulfil the demands of having sufficiently qualified postgraduates in the service of the nation but also catalyze the research output matching the global standards.”

Speaking about the vision of the USA-based Mehta Family Foundation, its Chief Executive Officer Shri Rahul Mehta said, “It is an absolute privilege to partner with IITG to create this new school of Health Science and Technology. We believe that education is fundamental for economic development. This multi-disciplinary research and education school will foster innovation in new areas at the frontier of the healthcare revolution to deliver sustainable solutions to improve the healthcare of the people in India.”

This new multi-disciplinary programme on Health Sciences and Technology at IIT Guwahati has been designed based on National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The NEP advocates development of a holistic academic curriculum to nurture the best talents of the country through both pedagogic as well as hands-on training.

The new programme will emphasize extending training in both theoretical as well as hands-on perspectives, which will enable the development of academic leaders with a strong scientific foundation alongside having the capability to translate the ideas into biomedical technologies. The newly established school aims to train the students in topics related to Health Science and Technology, with the emphasis on courses from other disciplines of science and engineering such as Biosciences and Bioengineering, Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mathematics and Statistics, and Design.

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