Dr. A. V. Rama Rao is an eminent Indian scientist with over 40 years of experience in research and leadership. He was the former Director of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) – a premier chemical research organization within the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. His work on the isolation, structure elucidation of natural products and the syntheses of complex natural products is described in 262 research papers and 30 patents. He developed over 50 drug technologies that have been commercialized by the pharmaceutical industry. Rama Rao was bestowed with the title of “PADMASHRI” in 1991 and later in 2016 was given the “PADMADHUSHAN” by the President of India.