Rate My Professor Vandana Gulati

Dr. Vandana Gulati is Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sciences and Medicine in the Joint Medical Program at the University of New England's School of Science and Technology. She earned a B.Pharmacy, an M.Pharmacy by research specializing in Ayurveda, and a PhD in Life Sciences from Swinburne University of Technology in 2013, with her thesis examining Aboriginal Australian plants for type 2 diabetes management, marking the first such exploration for metabolic disorders. Her professional journey in Australian tertiary education started in 2008, encompassing a senior lectureship in Nutritional Medicine and specialization in Nutritional Biochemistry and Physiology Research at Endeavour College of Natural Health, a postdoctoral position at Swinburne University investigating phenotypic biomarkers in persistent Listeria monocytogenes strains from food-processing environments, and four years in pharmaceutical research in India focused on phyto-pharmacology and phytochemistry of traditional plants. Prior to her current role, she served as a research consultant for Edanz Innovative Evidence Solutions and experienced a research career interruption from 2015 to 2023 due to personal circumstances.

Dr. Gulati's research interests include integrative oncology, biological activities of native Australian plants, herbal and nutritional pharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacognosy, and Ayurvedic practices. She possesses broad expertise in complementary therapies, particularly plant extracts for diabetes and obesity, spanning herbal medicines, pharmacognosy, in vitro pharmacology, cell biology, biochemistry, microbiology, and evidence-based medicine. In teaching, she covers human physiology, biochemistry, human nutrition and metabolism, and pathophysiology across biomedical science, nursing, Joint Medical Program, nutrition, and naturopathy disciplines. She currently supervises three higher degree research students and has guided two Honours candidates to completion since 2023. Her accolades comprise Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (2024), Faculty Citation Award for Excellence in Education (2024), Finalist in Regional University Network Award (2024), School Citation Award for Excellence in Emerging Education (2023), gold medallist in M.Pharmacy (2003), and appreciation awards from the Government of India for herbal drug standardization (2007). Select publications include the book chapter 'Post COVID Future: Living and Managing Life After COVID from Food Security Perspective' (2024), 'Single atom dispersed tungsten disulfide (WS2) based nanosensors for VOCs detection' (2024, FlatChem), 'Unravelling the gut-lung axis: insights into microbiome interactions and Traditional Indian Medicine's perspective' (2023, FEMS Microbiology Ecology), 'Role of mushrooms in gestational diabetes' (2019, AIMS Medical Science), 'Rapid identification and source-tracking of Listeria monocytogenes using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry' (2015, International Journal of Food Microbiology), and 'Exploring the anti-diabetic Potential of Australian Aboriginal and Indian Ayurvedic plant extracts using cell-based assays' (2015, BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Dr. Gulati reviews for peer-reviewed journals in nutrition, complementary therapies, pharmacology, and phytochemistry, and conducts workshops alongside public lectures on nutrition, foods, spices, and native plants' health roles.