Dr. Pravin
Thomas
Founder & Convener
India Brain Forum
Connecting clinical care,
brain science and public life.
Biography
Dr Pravin Thomas is a neurologist specialising in headache and facial pain, and Founder and Convener of the India Brain Forum. He is Director of the Headache Program at Narayana Health, Bengaluru, where he also leads Headache and Interventional Headache Neurology Services, and Founder and Chairman of the World Headache Society.
He is Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru; Affiliate Assistant Professor of Neurology at Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine; and Honorary Lecturer at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. He holds a DNB in Neurology and a postgraduate diploma in Clinical Neurology from UCL, and completed a Clinical Fellowship in Headache Disorders in Birmingham, UK. He is a Diplomate of the European Board of Neurology.
His clinical and academic work focuses on headache, facial pain, interventional treatment and neuromodulation. Through the World Headache Society, he brings together clinicians and researchers across countries to advance professional education, research and standards of care. He is interested in the wider consequences of headache and neurological illness for families, working lives and participation in society, particularly where care is limited.
He founded the India Brain Forum to connect neuroscience with medicine, education, economics, technology and public policy. His interests include brain capital, human flourishing, perception and consciousness, and how scientific understanding can inform the institutions and environments that shape people’s lives. With particular attention to India and the Global South, he seeks to connect clinical experience and interdisciplinary inquiry with practical improvements in care, learning and public life.
Areas of work
Headache & facial pain
Clinical care, professional education and access to specialist services.
Brain health & public policy
Connecting brain health and human capability with education, work and care.
Cognition & consciousness
Exploring questions at the meeting point of neuroscience, philosophy and human experience.
At India Brain Forum
As Founder and Convener, he brings people and disciplines into conversation, helping shape IBF's direction and develop collaborations around shared questions.
