Reddy Receives Telangana Science & Technology Excellence Award

Samba Reddy, PhD, RPh, professor in the department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M College of Medicine, received a Science & Technology Excellence award from the American Telangana Association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the culture of Telangana, a state in southern India.

Reddy was honored for his contributions in discovering new treatments for brain diseases like epilepsy, status epilepticus and brain injury, advancing new drugs to clinical trials and reducing the disease burden in patients worldwide. The award was presented at the gala banquet on June 29, 2018, during the second World Telangana Convention (WTC) held in Houston, Texas.

“Professor Reddy is one of the global leaders and an outstanding scientist in pharmacology,” said the award citation published in the WTC Special Souvenir. “For more than 20 years, he worked tirelessly to advance drug development in epilepsy, with an emphasis on translational research, and has attained an international reputation in the field.”

After postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington D.C, Reddy worked at North Carolina State and then relocated to Texas A&M in 2008. He has published more than 180 scientific papers and numerous books and book chapters in which he has characterized the mechanism and function of neurosteroids in the brain, discovered a novel antidote for chemical nerve agents, identified extrasynaptic GABA receptors and recently cracked the code for treating catamenial epilepsy after a 15-year battle. During his research on catamenial epilepsy, he established a widely accepted experimental model, deeply explored the electrophysiological mechanisms and invented neurosteroid-replacement therapy for this epilepsy.

Reddy has been inducted as fellow in three major organizations: the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Epilepsy Society (AES).

“I am extremely grateful to the WTC organizers to be given such a prestigious award at this stage of my career,” Reddy said. “Many people have contributed to the research being honored here, and I gratefully acknowledge their incredible help.”