11th NBC

Clinical Ethics in India

Strengthening Trust in Changing Times

Pre-conference Events: January 20–21, 2027

Main Conference: January 22–24, 2027

📍 Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) Medical College, Pune, India

Scientific Programme Committee

Sylvia Karpagam

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Dr Sylvia Karpagam, is a public health doctor, general practitioner and researcher. She is on the expert committee of ALEPH2020 which is an international body on public health nutrition. She is the board member of AIKYATA (Senior Citizens Collective/Akhila Karnataka Vayovruddara Okkuta).
She is part of the Right to Health and Right to Nutrition campaigns in Karnataka and published extensively on the laws, policies and programmes in mainstream media as also peer reviewed journals.
She has worked as a consultant with the State Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Weston Price Foundation, Loyola Vikas Kendra, Amnesty India, National Law School, Bengaluru, St. Josephs College of Law, National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 5th Round, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Jesuit and other human rights groups in Karnataka to improve access to healthcare, nutrition and human rights in Karnataka, particularly for marginalised and indigenous communities. She is the author a book by Harper Collins India – “The Meat of The Matter: How the Politics of Food Shapes Our Health”
She also does general practice at Acura hospital, HBS hospital and medical officer, Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) centre, Bowring hospital etc. She was mentor for Karnataka, Jeeva project, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), New Delhi on women’s experience in accessing maternal healthcare and the role of the traditional dai or midwife. This study was conducted in four districts of India – Bellary (Karnataka), Bokaro (Jharkhand), Nandurbar (Maharashtra) and Kangra (Himachal Pradesh).
She was the Course co-ordinator, WHO project on Integrated Management of Adult and Adolescent disease, HIV/AIDS in Karnataka. She was a Member, Advisory Monitoring Team (AMT), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada for the Pan Asian Collaboration for Evidence based e-health adoption and action (PANACeA).
She blogs at https://drsylviakarpagam.wordpress.com/
Book link: https://harpercollins.co.in/first-chapter/the-meat-of-the-matter-how-the-politics-of-food-shapes-our-health/
Her Twitter id is sakie339 and Instagram is @sylviakarpagam.

Sunita Simon Kurpad

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Prof. Sunita Simon Kurpad, completed MBBS from St John’s Medical College, Bengaluru and MRC Psychiatry from Cambridge University, United Kingdom.
After obtaining DNB Psychiatry she has been faculty member at St John’s for thirty-one years. She is currently Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Head, Department of Medical Ethics. She was also awarded the Post Graduate Diploma in Medical Law and Ethics ( PGDMLE) from the National Law School Bengaluru in 2024.
She is involved in clinical work, teaching (including medical ethics to MBBS, postgraduates across various disciplines, allied and health administration students), and research; and published in national and international scientific journals and textbooks.
Her area of interest is boundaries in the doctor patient relationship. Her work on sexual and non-sexual boundaries in the doctor-patient relationship with colleagues in The Bangalore Declaration Group was instrumental in getting the Medical Council of India to include this topic in the revised medical undergraduate MBBS curriculum for 2013. As Co Chair Boundary Guidelines Task Force of the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) she has been instrumental in leading the team to draft Guidelines for doctors on sexual boundaries in the doctor patient relationship in India. This has subsequently been adopted by the National Medical Commission (NMC). Subsequently as Chair of this group, they drafted guidelines on Professional Boundaries, which has been adopted by the IPS. Her film “ Who would you believe?” done under the aegis of the Division of Humanities at SJRI, has been used to sensitize medical students and others on sexual harassment.
She is a member of the Managing Committee of Forum for Medical Ethics Society FMES.

Jyoti Shetty

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Dr Jyoti Shetty, holds an MBBS, DPM and MD in Psychiatry from B.J. Government Medical College and Sassoon General Hospitals, Pune. She is presently Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University) Medical College and Bharati Hospital and Research Centre, Pune. She serves as Advisor to the Child Psychiatry Subcommittee of the Indian Psychiatric Society (2026–2027), Co-Chairperson of the Women and Mental Health Subcommittee of the Indian Association of Private Psychiatry (2026–2027), and Vice-President of the Menopause Society of Pune (2024–2026). Her areas of interest include child and adolescent psychiatry, women’s mental health and forensic Psychiatry

Satendra Singh

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Dr Satendra Singh, is Director-Professor of Physiology at the University College of Medical Sciences & GTB Hospital, Delhi. He received the WHO South-East Asia Region (SEARO) Public Health Champion Award 2025 for reframing disability from a medical issue to a human rights issue and for influencing policies and medical curricula across India and globally. A leading disability justice advocate, he has spearheaded several policy reforms, including the incorporation of disability competencies into India’s Competency-Based Medical Education curriculum.
The Supreme Court of India recognised him as one of the nation’s “shining sons who reached extraordinary heights while braving all adversities” and appointed him as a domain expert in the landmark cases Om Rathod v. DGHS (2024) and Anmol v. National Medical Commission (2025), which resulted in significant reforms to the National Medical Commission’s medical admission guidelines for persons with disabilities. He is a Commissioner on The Lancet Commission on Disability & Health and a member of the Core Group on Disability at the National Human Rights Commission of India.
He was conferred the National Award by the President of India in 2021 for advancing disability-inclusive elections. He is also the first Indian recipient of the Henry Viscardi Achievement Award (2017), one of the world’s highest honours recognising exemplary leadership in the disability sector, and the recipient of the National Annual Award for Medical Humanities (2023). Beyond disability rights, he is a committed ally of transgender and intersex communities. A trained ethicist , he did fellowship in Clinical Medical Ethics from the prestigious MacLean Centre of University of Chicago,

Olinda Timms

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Dr Olinda Timms, is a medical doctor, specialised in Anaesthesiology, with clinical practice in urban hospital settings. Trained in Bioethics and Medical Law and Ethics, she has published in academic journals and public media, and is author of ‘Biomedical Ethics’ (Elsevier 2nd Ed). Dr Timms is adjunct faculty in the Division of Health and Humanities at St. Johns Research Institute, Bangalore. She is a Working Editor of Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, Ethics Committee Member of ICMR-NINE, and Council Member of the CCBI National Bioethics Forum.