Dr. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, the inventor of email and polymath, holds four degrees from MIT, is a world-renowned systems scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He is a Fulbright Scholar, Lemelson-MIT Awards Finalist, India’s First Outstanding Scientist and Technologist of Indian Origin, Westinghouse Science Talent Honors Award recipient, and a nominee for the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

His love of medicine and complex systems began in India when he became intrigued with medicine at the age of five as he observed his grandmother, a farmer, and healer in the small village of Muhavur in South India, apply Siddha, India’s oldest system of traditional medicine, to heal and support local villagers.

These early experiences inspired him to pursue the study of modern systems science, information technology, and eastern and traditional systems of medicine to develop an integrative framework linking eastern and western systems of medicine.