HYDERABAD: Dr Coluthur Gopalan, the centenarian nutrition scientist who is often regarded as the father-figure of nutrition research in India, was conferred with the first FANS-Living Legend Award by the Federation of Asian Nutrition Societies (FANS), at a meeting held during the 13th Asian Congress of Nutrition in Bali Indonesia recently.
Dr Gopalan celebrated his birth centenary last year. He had served as the Director of ICMR- National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) from 1961 to 1973. Research under his leadership had formed the basis of major national nutrition programmes initiated in the 1970s - ICDS, Massive Dose Vitamin-A and Iron supplementation. After serving as the Director-General of ICMR, he established the Nutrition Foundation of India (NFI) and has been its President since then.