Dr. K. Sreekumaran Nair is currently the director of the General Clinical Research Center (National Institute of Health) in Mayo Clinic. He also is a Professor of Medicine, Mayo Medical School, Mayo Foundation David Murdock Professor of Nutrition and Consultant in Endocrinology. Dr. Nair served in various national and international organizations, editorial board and peer review committees. He is a member of the Association of American Physicians and American Society of Clinical Investigation. He is principal investigator of the NIH grants and main focus of research is proteomic and genomics in diabetes and aging. He is a member of the governing body of the Indian Institute of Diabetes.

Dr.Prem Menon, is a physician specialized in the treatment of allergy, asthma and immunologic diseases.He is the Medical Director of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology Center (AAIC), Louisiana , USA. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, American College of Chest Physicians.He has received various awards and honors for his academic and clinical skills. He is famous for his philanthropic activities, both in USA and in India. He is listed in "The Best Doctors In America," since 1996 Woodward/White Inc. He is listed in "The Guide to America’s Top Physicians" by the Consumer’s Research Council of America, 2003.He was awarded Humanitarian Of The Year, 1998, by the IndoAmerican Democratic Organization, Chicago, IL.Kerala Center, New York’s award for Philanthropy, 2001. He established a full time free Asthma and Allergy Clinic in Cochin, India in 1995 for Care and Share. He is the President of the Indian Institute of Diabetes Founder's Club.

Dr Robert Rizza is presently the Vice President of the American Diabetes Association and served as the Chair of Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism and Nutrition, Mayo Clinic Rochester from 1992 to 2002. He currently is a Professor of Medicine in the Mayo Medical School and Consultant in Endocrinology. He is the Earl and Annette R. McDonough Professor of Medicine (2003-present). He has been active in many national and international organizations including serving on the Board of Directors of the American Diabetes Association and as President of the Association of Program Directors of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism and the Association of Subspecialty Professors. He also is a member of various editorial boards and national peer review committees. He has won many awards including teacher of the year on several occasions. His research, which has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1980, has focused on the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in diabetic and non-diabetic humans.

Raja Puthoor, MS (Eng), MBA (Secretary, WIDF)

Raja Puthoor was born in Kerala, India. He is a graduate of the Trivandrum Engineering College (Mechanical Engneering), University of Miami (Industrial Engineering) and Rochester Institute of Technology (MBA). He worked twenty five years for Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, NY and six years for Alticor Co. in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is currently retired in Henderson, Nevada. He is married to Dr. Subitha and has three daughters and a son-in-law.

Bhishma Agnihotri, J.D. (Advisor, WIDF)

Bhishma Agnihotri was previously the Chancellor of Law at Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is currently the Government of India’s Ambassador at Large of Non-Resident Indians and people of Indian origin.

Dr. Reita Powell is the first Indian to be selected as Miss World. She is now settled down in Ireland with her husband, Professor David Powell (endocrinologist) and is actively involved in philanthropy work.

M.V.Pillai.M.D ,F.A.C.P is a practicing physician specialized in Hematology and Oncology currently serving as President of Virginia Oncology Care Inc. He serves also as a Clinical Professor of Medicine at George Washington University, Washington DC. He is the past president of the Association of Kerala Medical Graduates (AKMG), a professional social and cultural organization of over 2000 medical doctors settled in North America sharing a common heritage from the state of Kerala, India. The Mayo Clinic was invited to Kerala during his presidency to help set up the Indian Institute of Diabetes. On his initiative the American College of Physicians introduced the first Medical Knowledge Self Assessment Program (MKSAP) in India. Dr Pillai serves on the director boards of several Indo-U.S ventures and is presently providing the leadership in bringing uniformity of care and excellence at India's major cancer centers by linking them to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of 19 leading cancer centers in the USA. He is a prolific writer in both English and in Malayalam. He has numerous awards and distinctions from the professional, social and cultural fields.

Dr C.S.Pitchumoni. M.D, FRCP(C).FACP.,MPH. is Professor of medicine at Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of medicine at New York Medical college and Adjunct Professor of medicine of community and preventive medicine, Chief of Gastroenterology at ST Peters University hospital IN New Brunswick, and Chairman Emeritus of Our Lady of Mercy Medical University hospital in New York. Dr Pitchumoni is a medical graduate of Trivandrum Medical College and a past trainee of Yale University Gastroenterology fellowship. He has authored about 150 papers in major medical journals in addition to 27 text book chapters. He is active as a teacher, clinician and researcher in the field of Gastroenterology. He is the recipient of the coveted Mastership of American College of Gastroenterology in addition to many fellowships of various professional organizations.

Mr. N. R. S. Babu

NRS Babu lives in Trivandrum, Kerala. He is one of the senior journalists in Kerala, and editor of the Kala Kaumudi Group of Publications, Trivandrum, and is involved in several developmental projects of socio-cultural significance for his home state, Kerala. He also serves as Director, National Center for New Media Studies, Trivandrum, and is Chairman of the Invis Group of Companies, Kerala's pioneering makers of Multi-media products.

Dr. Raman Menon Unnikrishnan is the Dean of Engineering and Computer Science at California State University, Fullerton (http://www.fullerton.edu/ecs/), a comprehensive university located in Orange County 30 miles east of Los Angeles. Dr. Unnikrishnan has been active in teaching and research in the areas of Control Systems, Power Electronics and Signal Processing. He is the author of numerous research papers and presentations in these areas. He has been a consultant to several industries and governmental agencies, and has been involved in technical and professional education for industries. He is active nationally in the field of engineering education and accreditation. Prior to joining Cal State Fullerton, Dr. Unnikrishnan was on the faculty of the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York where he served as the Head of the Electrical Engineering Department from 1991 to 2001.

Carolyn Elliott is Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a B.A. from Wellesley College. A specialist on South Asia, she has written studies of women's education, university/government relations, caste in politics, and women and development. She has served as a Senior Program Associate at the Ford Foundation in Delhi, where she supervised projects in social sciences, international economics, public interest law, and cultural preservation. As A Fulbright Scholar in l997-9, she served as Executive Director of the Indo-American Center for International Studies in Hyderabad.

Stephen O’Rahilly is a Professor of Diabetes, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK. He has made many seminal contributions in his research career and is an active member of leadership committees of many international organizations. He was appointed to the newly created Chair of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Cambridge in 1996 and to the Chair of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine in 2002 . His main research interests are insulin resistance, obesity and Type 2 diabetes, and he brings to these a multidisciplinary approach involving clinical observation, molecular genetics, and biochemical and pathophysiological studies. He has won many awards for his work including the R D Lawrence Lectureship of the British Diabetic Association (1996), the Clinical Endocrinology Trust Lectureship (1999), the Society for Endocrinology Medal (2000), a Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Grant in Metabolic Research (2000), the Graham Bull Prize of the Royal College of Physicians (2000) the Novartis Award for Clinical Research in Diabetes (2001), the European Journal of Endocrinology Prize (2001) and the Heinrich Wieland Prize (2002). He is on the editorial board of numerous medical and scientific journals, Fellow of Royal Society and is the Deputy Director of the Cambridge Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility.

John Wahren is Professor emeritus in Clinical Physiology at the Karolinska Institute and Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. He is currently Director of the General Clinical Research Unit at the Karolinska Hospital. He served as Chairman for 3 yrs of the Nobel Assembly which awards the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. He is internationally renowned for his research contributions in the area of diabetes and exercise physiology. He has served in several national and international medical organizations, editorial boards and peer review groups. He has received the Minkowski Award of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, and he is an honorary member the Association of American Physicians.

Professor K.V Johny is presently the Professor  and Chairman, Dept. of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University (since 1987).He is the Chairman, Faculty of Internal Medicine (post-graduate), Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations. (since 1999). He was the former Professor and Head. Dept. of Nephrology, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, India. He took  M.D. (Internal Medicine) 1965, Kerala University, India, FRCP (Internal Medicine) 1978, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Canada. Elected Fellow of Royal Colleges of Physicians of London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ireland, and American College of Physicians. President, Indian Society of Nephrology, 1980-82.First recipient of Khuller oration and Gold medal of the Indian Society of Nephrology, 1975.Overseas Examiner, Royal College of Physicians, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow. He established the largest Renal Dialysis centre in India in 1969. Headed the medical team that performed the First renal transplantation in India in 1971.Started the Second Doctor of Nephrology (DM) training programme in India. He has got over 100 research publications. He is a member of several National and International organizations. He is the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Indian Community schools, Kuwait. President, Association of Indian Professionals. Kuwait. Member, Board of Directors, Lakeshore Hospital and Research Centre, Cochin, Kerala India.

Dr. Robert Kisabeth has served as Medical Director of Mayo Medical Laboratories since 1990. A graduate of Union College, Schenectady, New York, and the University of Tennessee School of Medicine in Memphis, Tennessee. Having worked his way through medical school as a phlebotomist and medical technologist, Dr. Kisabeth practiced in Memphis for almost 20 years. While in practice, he founded Medical Express Laboratories and shortly thereafter, in 1988, he accepted an invitation to join Mayo Clinic. As Chair of Mayo Clinic's Pathology Workgroup, Dr. Kisabeth's greatest interest lies in better aligning the laboratory's analytical and financial objectives with broader clinical objectives.

Royal Princess Gouri Parvathi Bayi of Tranvancore (Member, Governing Body of WIDF)

Princess Gouri Parvathi Bayi is a senior member of the Royal Family of Travancore. She is a member of boards of several organizations and companies. The family and the Princess are renowned for their consistent philanthropic activities. Among the Indian States, it is the role of a pioneer that Travancore has played in the realm of modern medicine, public health and sanitation and the patronage extended by the Royal Family cannot be overestimated.

It was in the first decade of the Nineteenth century, during the reign of Her Highness Gouri Lakshmi Bayi, that allopathic medicine was introduced in the State. The SAT Hospital, Trivandrum was founded with the generous donation from the Royal Family and it stands as a memorial to Prince Avitom Tirunal Rama Varma, who at an early age succumbed to an under diagnossed cardiac illness. Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Science and Technology which is now an institution of National importance is another glowing example of the benevolence of the Royal Family of Travancore. The Princess is a member of the Advisory Board of the IID.