Prem Narain Saxena (15 October 1925 – 29 November 1999) was the Founder Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, India. He made several notable contributions to the fields of traditional medicine and neuropharmacology. His demonstration of the wound-healing property of Curcuma longa was a major contributor to India's successful challenge of the US patent on the wound-healing property of Haldi. He was intimately involved in discovery and pre-clinical development of the non-barbiturate hypnotic Methaqualone. His basic studies have helped in understanding the role of various neurotransmitters in thermoregulation. He also standardized the use of Setaria cervi for discovery of new anti-filarial agents. Biography Prem Narain Saxena was born on 15 October 1925 in the village of Bithri-chainpur in Bareilly. It was a joint orthodox family village. He was the first child of his parents, Raghunandan Prasad and Saraswati Devi, and had three sisters. He married Rajeshwari Saxena. Education Saxena was schooled initially in his home village but from the age of six or seven he went to Dehradun, where his father worked as an accountant in the Department of Irrigation. Although he suffered from malnutrition and from illnesses such as rickets and typhoid, he was a very brilliant student and came first both in matriculation from AP Mission School and Intermediate from DAV College in Dehradun. In the very first attempt, he qualified medical entrance and did MBBS with 10th position from the King George Medical College, Lucknow (now Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University) in 1947. He did (MD) (Medicine) in 1950 and (MD) (Pharmacology) in 1952 again from the King George Medical College, Lucknow. He was awarded his PhD from the Patna University in 1963 and his DSc from the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, in 1978. Career He joined the Department of Pharmacology of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, on 14 April 1964 as Professor and Founder Chairman Department of Pharmacology. He served a period as Head Department of Pharmacology till 30 September 1985 and in view of his outstanding merits, he was re-employed by the University for the two years to 30 September 1987. Soon after retirement, he was selected as emeritus scientist of the ICMR, New Delhi, for a period from 1 September 1987, which he served till 14 September 1990. On 31 January 1991, the University appointed him as professor emeritus. In the university, he had also