Washington: Indian-origin scientist Anil Kulkarni, has been awarded with the highly competitive Fulbright Nehru Fellowship. Kulkarni is a professor in the department of surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School and his academic and professional experience gathered during his travel to India earlier, to teach immunonutrition and functional foods in the global health era, helped him grab this honour. He said that immunonutrition may be a modern term, but through the ages humans and animals have learned how to maintain and restore good health by modifying food intake that could enhance the body's defense system.

The fellowship will allow professor to work with four universities in India — Sikkim Manipal University Institute of Medical Sciences, Amrita University Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, Deccan Education Society affiliated Pune University and its Fergusson College, and Haffkine Institute in Mumbai affiliated with the University of Mumbai. He will also establish the first of its kind Center of ImmunonUTrition in Houston as a part of his scholarship, which will feature the development of basic and translational curriculum in this specific field.