Dr. Bhattiprolu Sivakumar is the Former Director of the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), a unit of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad. As a Scientist at NIN, he had over 36 years of research, teaching and administrative experience and guided the activities of NIN as between 2002-2005.
Dr. Sivakumar specialized on Vitamin A nutrition, specifically on the etiology of vitamin A deficiency, turnover of retinol and its binding proteins and food fortification. He is currently participating as a Guest Faculty in the NIN Training Programs and is on the Expert Committee Member of various Government Agencies like, CSIR, Planning Commission and DBT. He is also a member of the Scientific and Research Advisory Boards of prestigious multinational Food Companies and Health care organizations.
Dr. Sivakumar’s devotion to academics comes out strongly in his over 130 Scientific publications and guidance provided 10 Ph.D. scholars He has also participated as an Expert Committee Member or Advisor of Various National and International bodies, like MOH&FW, CCFS, Planning Commission, DWCD, WHO and FAO and Codex and visited the countries, USA, Ecuador, Egypt, Kuwait, Switzerland, Singapore, UK, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Maldives.
The academic, and consequently social, contributions have been recognised through a number of honours and awards. He delivered the prestigious Vepachedu Gopalakrishna Rao Endowment Award lecture for the year 2005 on “Adolescent Nutrition as the Focus to achieve National Nutrition Goals” and Shri Ramendra Sundar Sinha Memorial Oration, 2005 conferred by the Physiological Society of India during the 93rd Indian Science Congress, 2006, Hyderabad during 3-7 January 2006. he was the Elected Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences, India 2005 and Fellow of Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences, 2004. Dr. Sivakumar received British Council TCTP Award Prize (1990) to visit various Institutions in U.K. including London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (London). He was also the Visiting Fellow at Children's Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas (USA) for two years during 1992‑94.