Basudeva Narayana obtained his PhD (1934) from University of Edinburgh, UK specializing in physiology. He served as the Professor of Physiology, PW Medical Collge, Patna (1935-46); Principal and Dean, Faculty of Medicine (1946-52), Vice-Chancellor, Patna University (1954-57); Principal and Professor of Physiology, Bangaraya Memorial Medical College, Kakinada (1958-62) and Honorary Professor of Physiology, Patna University.

Academic and Research Achievements:Narayana started his career with an experimental study of the action of insulin on normal and diabetic hears. Later, he investigated factors causing variations in the blood diastase level in dogs, cats and rabbits as well as human beings. He found that the blood diastase level decreased after meals. On injection of glucose, glycogen and insulin, while it slightly increased after administration of anesthetics and injection of starch. He showed that the pancreas was not the main source of blood diastase. He developed an improved kymograph, a research tool. He also studies the effect of evipan sodium on the heart and of drugs like ergotamine, adrenalin and pituitrin on the coronary vessels.

Others Contributions:Narayana was associated with Scientific Advisory Board of Indian Council of Medical Research and with a large number of Committees set up by Government of India for Medical research and education. He prepared a report Medical Education in the USA and the UK, and Suggestions for Planning Medical Education in India (1950) (un-published).

Awards and Honours:Narayana delivered the Sukhraj Roy Readership Lecture (1951). He was a Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh, and National Academy of Medical Sciences (India); Member, International Physiological Congress Association, British Physiological Society, and Medical Council of India (Vice-President 1960-65). He was the Honorary Life Member, Association of Physiologists and Pharmacologists of India. He also served as President, Physiology Section, Indian Science Congress (1942).