Doctor of the year 2015
Belle Monappa Hegde
Medical Scientist, Educationist and Author
Although no living being is immortal, every creature on this earth requires a pair of healing hands day-in-and-day-out. The world would have been so impossible without a Doctor – a medical practitioner, whose primary role is to maintain or restore human health by evading all our big and small health problems. Medical Science is important for improvement of human life, lifespan and quality of human life. It helps prevent human suffering and also cures the diseases that are the result of advancing civilization. It helps to develop new drugs, new techniques and new equipment to study, analyze and cure the diseases. Even today, when people are getting more and more health conscious, the designation of Doctors as the supreme soul next to God is still intact. And when it the case of a tremendously talented Medical Scientist and Educationist, the respect for the designation just increases three-fold. So is the case with our panel chosen Medical Scientist Belle Monappa Hegde often abbreviated as B. M. Hegde.
Belle Monappa Hegde (August 18, 1938), is an Indian medical scientist, educationist and author. He is a retired Vice Chancellor of the Manipal University and the head of the Mangalore Chapter of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He has authored several books on medical practice and ethics. He is also the Editor in Chief of the medical journal, Journal of the Science of Healing Outcomes.
Hegde is a medical practitioner and has a M.B.B.S from Madras University, a M.D. from Lucknow University, a FRCP from London University, a FRCPI from Dublin University as well as a FACC and a FAMS. He has also received training in cardiology from Harvard Medical School under Bernard Lown, a Nobel Laureate.
Many research papers, books and publications to his credit; Dr. Hegde has a remarkable journey from a revered teacher to efficient administrator when he donned the role of vice-chancellor of Manipal University. He has served in various trusts and is widely respected for his philanthropic acts. Dr. Hegde doctorates Indian way of medicine- including breathing techniques, yoga and Ayurveda. He has been a deserving recipient of numerous national and international awards including Padma Bhushan, Dr. B.C. Roy National Award, Dr. J.C. Bose Award for Life Science Research, Pride of India Award from the US and honorary doctorates.
Blessed with strong scientific acumen in medical science, he advocated the advantages of Coconut oil, thus earning the wrath of multi-million corporate, no doubt he is regarded as “People’s Doctor”. His disdain against the hi-tech stuff for diagnosis when the time tested bedside methods and common sense alone would suffice, have moulded hundreds of future doctors. Presenting interesting insights from an inspirational orator, author of several books, eminent doctor, able administrator, probably the only Indian to become the fellow of all the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the British Isles including Ireland, Padma Bhushan Dr. B M Hegde. 
His monumental contributions to the art of bed-side clinical examination on specific topics have been published in distinguished medical journals. He is a prolific writer himself, frequently published in various magazines and newspapers, and his talk shows are sought after in the electronic media. He has penned nearly 35 books and over 3,000 articles in lay press. During the last decade, Prof. Hegde, along with 15 world-renowned scientists, some of them Nobel Laureates, has been working to publish a journal entitled “Journal of the Science of Healing Outcomes,” of which he is the Founder Editor-in-Chief. Prof. Hegde’s service to society through Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and its activity are legendary.