Chittaranjan S. Yajnik MD, FRCP

Dr Yajnik is the Director of the Diabetes Unit at the King Edward Memorial Hospital and Research Centre in Pune, India. He trained in Pune and Oxford, UK, and investigated the high susceptibility of Indians to diabetes and related disorders.

He is known for his description of the ‘thin-fat’ Indian (high body fat percent at low BMI) and its intrauterine programming by maternal nutritional and metabolic factors.

He is the current President of SNEHA India (Society for Natal Effects on Health in Adults) and a Trustee of the International DOHaD Society. He is an Honorary Visiting Fellow, of the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton, UK, a visiting Professor at the University of Exeter UK, and of the Danish Diabetes Academy, and an adjunct Professor at IISER, Pune. He received the Helmut Mehnert Award from the International Diabetes Federation (2009), the David Barker Medal of the International DOHaD Society (2011), and the Outstanding Investigator Award from the World India Diabetes Foundation.

Dr Yajnik is an advisor to many organizations including the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), India, WHO (Geneva), FIGO (Federation International of Gynecology and Obstetrics) and the Wellcome Trust, London, UK.