In 1994 – 95 she led talks and deliberations with the local civic authorities in Chennai to stop the 72-year-old brutal practice of electrocution of approximately 20,000 street/ community dogs in the city of Chennai-and successfully put an end to this cruel practice in September 1995. and she implemented and carried out a very successful mass Animal Birth Control ( ABC) program for street dogs for 20 years until 2014 . This brought down the incidence of human rabies deaths to nil in 2009 in Chennai. In 2007 the Tamil Nadu government made ABC of community / street dogs mandatory throughout the state.

Again on her request to the Tamil Nadu Government in 2009 she was able to introduce a retirement plan for the “Condemned Police Horses” – since then these police horses when found unfit for duty are no more killed but retire with her in the shelter she takes care of in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu, India.

For the first time in India - in 2009 -she introduced the philosophy of AHIMSA in teaching / research in life science education and basic bio medical sciences in conceiving the idea , raising funds and in establishing “The Mahatma Gandhi-Doerenkamp Center (MGDC) for Alternatives to Use of Animals in Life Science Education which was established in Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli from a generous Grant of 500,000 Euro from the Doerenkemp Zbiden Foundation , Switzerland to the Bharathidasan University .This center has been vociferously teaching and training scientists and students across India in the use of non- animal techniques ( in- vitro ) in research and education .Today it functions as the National Center for Alternatives to the use of Animals under the UGC since 2011.

She co- founded the International center for Alternatives in Research and Education (I-CARE) in 2004 with Dr. Massimo Tettamanti. The ethos of I-CARE is again based on the Gandhian philosophy of 'AHIMSA'. The objective of I-CARE is to proactively advocate, propagate and facilitate the use of alternatives to the use of animals in basic biomedical research, regulatory testing and education.

In 1994 she also co- founded the People for Animals chapter in Chennai one of the most reputed and biggest animal welfare organizations in India which runs a NO- KILL shelter for close to 900 animals – all of which have been victims to purposeful human violence.

She is the founder of the Project D.O.N.T (Dogs are not for Testing) - D.O.N.T. is a project that seeks to augment the precision and prediction of drug/ chemical toxicity by replacing the dog in testing with the power and potential of machine learning / Artificial Intelligence

Project D.O.N.T was taken up by IBM’s “Science for Social Good” Deep Learning group of researchers working at the IBM Watson Research Center, New York in 2019.

The project was a brilliant success and the findings of which have been published in a paper titled “Accurate clinical toxicity prediction using multi task deep neural nets and contrastive molecular explanations” In NATURE Scientific reports in March 2023. Which is poised to bring winds of change on the international scenario in toxicity testing. When validated by regulatory authorities it could save the lives of billions of animals used in toxicity testing and drug development.

She has been an invited speaker at the World Congresses on Alternatives to Animal use in Research and Education in Berlin, and Tokyo in 2005 and 2007 respectively. and the European Congress on Alternatives to Animals use in Research at Linz, Austria in 2003 and the 99th Indian Science Congress held at Bhubaneshwar in 2012. She is an authority and expert in the care of rehabilitation of laboratory animals and validated alternatives in regulatory toxicity testing.

Her knowledge on the subject of alternatives to the use of animals in research and testing won her several coveted positions at the national level besides working as an Expert consultant with the CPCSEA , MoEF from 2000 to 2004.- where she was a vociferous proponent of the concept of Ahimsa at every instance- promoting the replacement of animals in research and bio medical studies with in vitro and in – silico methods.

She was very vocal in upholding the concept of Ahimsa as a member of the below mentioned committees;

• • Member of the CPCSEA, Ministry of Environment, GOI, from 2011 to 2015
• • Member - CPCSEA Sub-Committee for the Development of national guidelines for the use of equines in immune-biologicals
• • Member - CPCSEA Sub-Committee for the Scrutiny of large animal research project proposals
• • Member - CPCSEA Sub-Committee For the inspection of equine holding labs
• • Member - CPCSEA Sub-Committee for Harmonization of Indian regulatory guidelines with International guidelines
• • Member - CPCSEA Sub-Committee for Development of guidelines for reuse and rehab of dogs and primates

THE NATIONAL LEVEL

1. The concept of the 4th R – rehabilitation of laboratory animals was borne out of her tireless work in personally rehabilitating and taking care of thousands of laboratory animals- horses, macaques and dogs. The 4th R became a continuum of the Russel and Burch principle of Three R’s – Replacement, Reduction and Refinement of animals used in research ‘/ testing / education. In 2002 it became a national policy of the CPCSEA, GOI and mandatory that all animal using labs adhere to the same.

2. She pioneered the “ The Science of Alternatives- movement” in India to promote the universal concept of 3Rs ( Replacement , Reduction and Refinement ) in the use of animals in research and education by organizing the first ever conference on alternatives in New Delhi in 2003 ,under the aegis of CPCSEA(Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals ), Ministry of Environment & Forests, GOI, when working as Expert Consultant with the CPCSEA. Experts from the best platforms of alternatives from the USA and Europe were invited to address a gathering of close to 500 scientists and students. The concept was so new, shocking and morally provoking to the Indian scientific community that hundreds of the participants walked out of the conference. But the first seed was sown to better laboratory animal welfare in India.

3. For the first time in India she introduced the philosophy of AHIMSA in the teaching and research -in life science education and basic bio medical sciences - by way of establishing an institution to do so . The Mahatma Gandhi-Doerenkamp Center (MGDC) for Alternatives to Use of Animals in Life Science Education and Research was established in Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli in 2009 by her . This center has been vociferously teaching and training scientists and students across India the use of non- animal techniques in research and education. Since 2011 it was upgraded as the National Center for Alternatives to the use of Animals under the University Grants Commission, GOI.

4. She co- founded the International center for Alternatives in Research and Education (I-CARE) in 2004. The ethos of I-CARE is again based on the Gandhian philosophy of 'AHIMSA' or non-violence. The objective of I-CARE is to proactively advocate, propagate and facilitate the use of alternatives to the use of animals in basic biomedical research, regulatory testing and education. ICARE organized the First Indian Congress on Alternatives to the Use of Animals in Research, Testing & Education" was held from the 29th - 31st January 2007 at Sri Ramachandra Medical University, Chennai, India.

5. ICARE was also responsible for initiating the first deliberations with the UGC in 2004, to enforce out a ban on dissection of animals in the teaching of zoology. Having convinced the UGC in this regard in 2011 – the ban on dissection effectively saves 18 million animals from being sacrificed annually.

6. I-CARE organized the first ever alternatives to animal use workshop in regulatory testing in India – in Mumbai on 22 and 23rd November 2007 in collaboration with SKINETHIC , France where the use of artificial skin models to replace skin irritation / corrosion was demonstrated and a hands on workshop was conducted for over 40 participants from across India .

7. Was instrumental in mooting the idea and preparing the National guidelines- first of its kind in the world - for the et use of equines in Anti- snake Venom Serum production in 2002 while working as Expert Consultant with CPCSEA, MoEF , GOI. India is the only country which has developed guide lines for equines used in the production of immuno-biologicals.

8. Initiated and developed the National Guidelines for the rehabilitation and reuse of dogs in 2014 as a member of the CPCSEA. India is now the first ever country in the world to have developed guidelines to limit the years of use and confinement for dogs in a laboratory. Hundreds of beagles have been released and continue to be released from laboratories to homes where they enjoy the bliss of freedom and love for the first time in their lives.

9. She single handedly organized two very successful ` National Round Table Conferences with the participation of all the national regulatory agencies viz. DCGI , CIB, IPC , International Universities , big pharma and NGO’s from abroad and India and manufacturers from abroad for alternatives in testing - at The National Academy of Agriculture Research and Management ( NAARM ) , Hyderabad in October 2017 and at Westin Hotel in Chennai in 2018. This was to bring to light the sentience of dogs and the urgent need to find an alternative for dogs used in testing. The participants unanimously agreed to work towards this and find alternatives to replace dogs in regulatory testing. This conference laid the foundation stone for the Project D.O.N.T elaborated in the link ‘ AI to replace animals in testing”

THE LOCAL / STATE LEVEL

10. Was instrumental in stopping the 70-year-old practice of brutal electrocution of street dogs in Chennai in 1995. From 1932 the Corporation of Chennai used to electrocute more than 20,000 pups and adult dogs every year in the Basin Bridge Lethal Chamber and this was stopped after a yearlong battle with the civic authorities in the years 1994-95. Hence millions of lives of innocent street dogs have been saved from electrocution and death in the last 24 years.

11. On Oct 2nd 1995 initiated Chennai’s first mass Animal Birth Control/ immunization program for the street dogs in the very same premises of lethal chamber. The PFA continues this very successful program with the Corporation of Chennai where close to 10,000 dogs are sterilized and immunized every year. The program has been so wonderfully successful in that the incidence of human rabies in the city dropped from 49 persons/ annum in 1995 to nil in 2009 as per the records of the Heath Dept of the Corporation of Chennai. This is turn helped to evoke a state -wide order for the implementation of the Animal Birth Control Program in Tamil Nadu and stop all killing of stray dogs.

12. In 2009 – a first of its kind in India - in that time- she initiated a new state policy with the government of Tamil Nadu for the rehabilitation of condemned police horses of the Tamil Nadu Police Dept.. These horses now retire in the shelter she takes care of.

13. In 1994 she also co- founded the People for Animals chapter in Chennai one of the most reputed and biggest animal welfare organizations in India often risking her own life to rescue cattle from the brutal trade of inter – state cattle trafficking and wild life rescues from circuses.

THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

14. The explainable Multitask AI model developed at IBM Watson Research Laboratory, New York which has been published in NATURE was again her brain child and inspiration. It has been submitted to both the FDA and the National Toxicology program In the USA and is poised to make winds of change on the international scenario of drug development and toxicity testing.