Samir Bhattacharya obtained his BSc (Hons) and MSc degrees from Calcutta University and joined as a research scholar at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) known as Indian Institute of Experimental Medicine at that time at Kolkata. He earned his PhD (1970) under the supervision of Dr AG Dutta, FNA. He went to USA in 1975 as a Senior Fulbright Fellow and worked with Professor Aubrey Gorbman at the University of Washington, Seattle. He continued his work with Professor Aubrey Gorbman again in 1983 when he was selected, a second time, as a Senior Fulbright Fellow and significantly contributed to understand the mechanism of thyroid hormone action. Presently, he is at Visva-Bharati as an INSA Senior Scientist.

Academic and Research Achievements: Professor Samir Bhattacharya joined School of Life Science, Department of Zoology at Visva-Bharati (Central University) and initiated the teaching of Comparative Biochemistry and Endocrinology at the MSc level. He also established a Centre of Biotechnology in this University and continued his research with thyroid hormone along with brain peptide and metabolic hormones. He has significantly contributed to the understanding of the hormonal signaling mechanisms, especially, in relation to the insulin resistance. He joined IICB as its Director in 1999 and initiated the field of molecular medicine for the critical diseases, such as asthma, leukemia and prostate cancer taking traditional knowledge as the basis. He has published over 116 research articles, and mentored a large number of students including 38 PhD students.

Other Contributions: Professor Bhattacharya was on the Editorial Board of the journals from Academic Press (now Elsevier). He along with the six scientists from Japan, China, Australia and Singapore established a new International Society on Comparative Endocrinology covering the area of Asia and Oceania (AOSCE- Asia & Oceania Society for Comparative Endocrinology) in 1986. He was the President of this Society for four years. He also served as a Council Member (2001-02) and Vice-President (2003) of INSA.

Awards And Honours: Professor Bhattacharya received were the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award of ICAR (1999), MRN Prasad Memorial Lecture Award of INSA (1998), FICCI Award (2001), Barclay Memorial Gold Medal of the Asiatic Society (2001) and CSIR Technology Award (2002) and Chandrakala Hora Memorial Medal of INSA (2007). He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore and National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad.