Dr Neeraj Raj
Dr Neeraj Raj graduated as Best Outgoing Student from Osmania Medical College with University Gold Medals in Anatomy, Pathology and General Medicine and Distinctions in Pathology & Community Medicine.
He is well known as a pioneering expert in Multimedia and Animation – he set up Andhra Pradesh’s first Multimedia Studios in 1993; put up Touch-Screen based public access kiosks across Hyderabad in 1995; and established one of the first Animation companies in 1996. He was the Executive Director of Sriven MultiTech Limited, and founder of Webtoons Media, Inc., USA, the company that bridged the Indian animation industry with Hollywood.
As the Visionary Founder and Managing Director of MEdRC, the Medical Education Research Centre (now called Medisys Edutech), Dr. Neeraj collaborated with over 750 medical teachers to digitize the entire medical MBBS curriculum and create the first and largest ever MOOC for Medicine offering over 150 SmarTeach Online courses. Adapting quickly to bring mobility, he designed the SmarTeach Tabs that were launched by the Chairman of Medical Council of India and are now used by over 15000 medical students. In 2013, Dr. Neeraj set up the first ever Virtual Medical University collaborating with the Indian Medical Association to offer post-graduate diploma and CME courses to upskill general practitioners.
Dr Neeraj got the project approved by the Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of India as an Innovation of National Interest for funding by Technology Development Board and his ambitious “Virtual Health University” concept was approved, endorsed and recommended by the Medical Council of India and recommended by the General Body of the Dental Council of India. Dr Neeraj’s mission has been cited as an example of innovation in specialized up gradation of education in UNESCO’s global report “Developments and Trends in the Application of ICT in Education” by Glen Farell and won the Manthan South Asia Award for Best e-Content for Development.
Dr Neeraj has been a faculty and speaker at several national and International forums on Digital Education including: Hosting e-Learning workshops for University faculty as consultant for the Commonwealth of Learning, Canada. Chairing the session on “e-Learning in Medical Education” at the International Conference of Association of Medical Educators of Europe at Norway; Addressing the Steering Council Meeting of the International Virtual Medical School (IVIMEDS) at Amsterdam; and conducting the workshop on “Future of Medical Education” at Egypt. He was awarded the Vaidyashree for outstanding contributions to medical education.
Dr. Neeraj is also an accomplished artist – he has exhibited his watercolor paintings several times. His cartoons have been published in leading publications such as The Illustrated Weekly of India, Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle. His cartoons were also selected for exhibit at the World Humor Conference. He has now turned to creating digital art recently, his virtual reality art has been curated and exhibited.