Sheela Nampoothiri, head, paediatric genetics, Amrita Hospitals, Kochi has been selected as the co-chair and member of the Rare Diseases National Consortium, an expert committee under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for research related to the treatment of rare diseases.

She has the experience of working as a member in various panels including as a task force member on human genetics and genome analysis programme for Department of Biotechnology, Government of India from 2017-2020.

 The Union ministry of health and family welfare has released the National Policy for Rare Diseases 2021, to lower the high cost of treatment for rare diseases with an increased focus on indigenous research.

 Dr Ratna Puri from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi is the Chairperson of the expert committee.

 Dr Ashwin Dalal, Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) in Hyderabad, Dr Mamta Muranjan of KEM Hospital, Dr K S Meenakshi Bhatt of Centre for Human Genetics, Bengaluru, Dr. Neerja Gupta of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi and Dr Sujatha Jagadeesh, of MediScan, Chennai are the other members of the panel.