BOARD MEMBERS


Shri Anand Sharma

Shri Anand Sharma, Patron of The Music Therapy Trust and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry is a lawyer by education and is well-conversant with parliamentary and legislative procedures and as a member of the panel of chairpersons for Rajya Sabha has presided over sittings of the House.
Mr. Sharma is married to Dr Zenobia Sharma. They have two sons. He is deeply involved in work relating to autism and disabilities.

As a prominent leader of the student and youth movement in India; being one of the founders of NSUI, he worked closely with the late Prime Minister Mr Rajiv Gandhi, was educated at Shimla and was elected to Parliament in 1984.
Mr. Sharma has been a prominent public face of the Indian National Congress and was Chief Spokesman of the party for six years. He was elevated to the Union Council of Ministers with responsibility for Foreign Affairs and assumed the additional charge of Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting. In May 2009 he was appointed Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Mr. Sharma was proactively associated with the convening of the International Conference, as its Secretary General, to mark the centenary of the Satyagraha organized by the Indian National Congress in New Delhi in January, 2007.

Mr Sharma is recognized for his personal commitment to the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa. In addition to being Chairman of the Indian Anti-Apartheid Movement, he also chaired the World Youth Action Against Apartheid. He was appointed to observe the South African Transition Process and Elections in 1994 by the Commonwealth Secretary-General.


Ambassador

Dr Zenobia Sharma

Dr Gaurav Jayant Desai


Trustees

Akshay Kaul

Akshay Kaul specializes in the field of ecological planning, landscape and sustainable rchitecture and possesses more than 20 years of experience in India and USA.
He received his Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, USA. Mr. Kaul has been teaching and practicing landscape design and architecture in India since 1995.

Mr. Kaul is a keen student of the culture and philosophy of Yoga with deep interest in wholistic living. He is a trained yoga stretch instructor and a foot reflexologist. His understanding of the philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism and other traditional systems of health, ayurveda, yoga, and meditation are integral aspects that inform his personal life and growth besides his professional work.

His professional work in ecological planning and landscape focuses on conservation of environment that he pursues through first restoring the water recycling and selection of plants with extreme care to bring native plants of significant value back to people. Plants that can be used to heal people or that help in bringing butterflies or birds to restore the environmental cycle in projects that include city planning, urban design, campus, institutions, resorts, hospitals, residences, or public parks. His areas of specialization also include rainwater harvesting and waste water management and its integration in landscape design as a design feature.

In architecture he focuses on making buildings a part of the larger landscape. Buildings that consumes less energy to maintain and those that have less embodied energy as well. He is part of specialized team that advises on green buildings and landscape.
He was an advisor to State Urban Agenda for Rajasthan for Master Planning for City of Jaipur and urban environmental development issues. He has been a visiting faculty at the Department of Landscape, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, TVB School of Habitat Studies (TVB SCH), New Delhi, Sushant School of Art and Architecture, Gurgaon. He has conducted workshops in landscape architecture and ecological planning for leading hotels, institutions, industries and NGOs.

Membership of Professional Societies
- Member of Sigma Lambda Alpha Honor Society, U.S.A. Membership based on
  AFFILIATION excellence in the field of landscape architecture in United States.
- Member of Council of Architecture.
- Member of Indian Institute of Architects.
- Member Indian Institute of Interior Designers.
- Member of the Indian Society of Landscape Architect


Chris Bhaskaran

With over 20 years of experience, Chris is a trained architect. He brings dedication, commitment and the highest quality standards to every project that he undertakes. He has a vast number of projects under his belt including many for major multinationals and embassies. His style is a unique combination of the traditional and contemporary. His innovative use of space is a distinguishing characteristic of his work. His deep understanding of customer needs combined with a fine appreciation of the final utility of the project makes his work stand out from among those of his contemporaries.
Chris is also a trained landscape specialist. He uses his unique skills to bring a pleasing and aesthetic finish to all his work. The final outcome is not only pleasing, but also has a sense of serenity.


Vidya Rao

Vidya Rao is a leading performer of the delicate style of thumri-dadra singing. For many years the disciple of the late Smt Naina Devi, Vidya has continued her study of this form under Smt Shanti Hiranand and Smt Girija Devi. Her initial training in khayal was under the late Prof B.N. Datta and thereafter under Pandit Mani Prasad.

She has performed at national and international forums to appreciative audiences. Specialising in thumri, dadra, ghazal, the allied folk-derived forms such as kajri, chaiti, hori etc, she also sings the devotional poetry of the medieval bhakti and sufi saints. Her repertoire also includes Sanskrit verses from the Hindu and Buddhist texts, as well as the elegiac forms of soz, marsiya and noha, and praise-forms such as naat etc.
She has composed for and collaborated with other musicians and artists from other disciplines (painting, writing, theatre etc) to create innovative works for theatre, film and art installations. She has been associated with the Delhi-based theatre group Vivadi as a founder-member since its inception, and has researched and designed the music, composed, sung and acted in several of their productions.

The recipient of Fellowships for the intensive study of thumri from the Ford Foundation and the Indian Government & rqsuo;s Department of Culture, she has presented papers on music and the performing arts at several conferences and has been published in several academic journals and books. She has conducted workshops and lecture demonstrations with varied groups — school and college students, students of theatre, design and architecture, and with professionals from different fields.

Vidya Rao has been Visiting Professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU, Delhi, Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and is Visiting Faculty at the Deer Park School, Himachal Pradesh, and at Beej Vidyapeeth, Dehradun. She is also associated with the Adivasi University, Tejgadh, and Matrika, New Delhi, and is Consulting Editor for Social Sciences with Orient Longman , Publishers.


Neelam Sanghvi

Neelam Sanghvi is a qualified accountant with a background in Air Transport and Computer Graphics. She has worked in computer animation, marketing, as a supplier of Stained Glass Paintings and a Fashion Designer.

Neelam has an artistic background and has created oil paintings on canvas and fabric painting on cloth as well as dried flower arrangements. She has also produced creative expressions in the form of Music & Dance.

Currently she is working for Workscope, specialising in making Blankets with Weights for children & adults having ADD, ADHD, Autism, Sensory Issues, Cerebral Palsy, Insomnia, Sleeping Disorders, Restless Leg Syndrome etc.

Neelam has 2 sons, one with developmental delay and some learning difficulties. He studies in JBCN International School, Mumbai, a school for children with various types of learning difficulties. He is a very happy and loving child with a remarkable ear for music -he thrives on music, it is his life and soul. He desires to become a music director once he grows up and is working hard to reach his goal and his efforts are slowly and steadily paying off. Neelam and her family are doing all they can to help him to become as independent as possible through his love of music.

Founder and Chief Advisor

Dr. Margaret Lobo, FRSA

Dr. Margaret Lobo, FRSA, is the Founder and Chief Advisor of The Music Therapy Trust (TMTT) in India and The Music Therapy Trust Nepal (TMTTN). She qualified at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1987, is a fully registered member of the UK Health Professions Council (HPC) and the British Association of Music Therapy (BAMT). In 2010 Margaret was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Middlesex University for her major contribution to the community in the UK, India & Nepal in the field of Health and Social Sciences.

Margaret is also one of the named mentors for the ASHA Foundation, “Inspirational Women From Around the World” and in 2003 was nominated for the Beacon prize for her philanthropic work. Her endeavors in the UK and India were also recognised in 2007 by the award of a Fellowship from the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA).

Award-winning Margaret has had numerous articles published both nationally and locally and is a regular broadcaster. She was featured in the BBC film “The Power of Music” narrated by Sir Paul McCartney, in documentaries for MTV TV, on BBC radio. In India she has participated in articles written in:
- Times of India 16/12/07 "Alternative Therapies", "Unlocking Closed Doors"
   by Amrita Sings (TNN)
- "Soul Curry" an article on Music Therapy by Naomi Lobo
- "Rage and the Ragas. Mumbai Mirror 21/12/07 Malay Desai
- "God in your iPOD", Inner Spaces. Mumbai 06.01.08 Mumbai
- "Learning by Ear". Mumbai Mirror 09 Dec. 2006 - by Manoy R. Nair
- And appeared in 2 documentaries on music therapy made by Siddharth Kak,
  Chairman, Cinema Vision India, Mumbai.


Advisors

Walter Lobo

Walter Lobo with his wife Dr. Margaret Lobo founded the Otakar Kraus Music Trust in England in 1991. Through his guidance and volunteer role as Trustee and Honourable Treasurer, Walter has helped to expand the OKMT into being one of the major service providers of Music Therapy in the UK.

Walter is a supporter and advisor of The Music Therapy Trust in India which he founded in 2004 along with his wife Margaret. In 2009 he helped establish The Music Therapy Trust Nepal, taking on the role of financial advisor and fundraiser. Walter & Margaret visited the Music Therapy Centre in Kathmandu in April 2011.

Walter was born in Uganda and has lived in the U.K. for over 30 years. He works as a self-employed Accountant. His hobbies are Creative Writing, Vedic Philosophy, Sanskrit, Literature and Music. He has a great love and interest for India and Nepal and its culture.

Dr. Amit Sen

Director – Children’s First, New Delhi, India

As a child, Dr. Sen started by wanting to become a bus driver, changed to a doctor at an epiphanous moment, was driven to become a footballer through adolescent years, dreamt of being a rock star during medical college days till he realized that he had no talent for it, and finally reconciled to become a doctor after all. After finishing medicine from AFMC Pune, he went to NIMHANS Bangalore for an MD in Psychiatry and had a blast for the next 3 years.

A longish stint in Newcastle UK made him serious about life and proud of his country. Besides growing his family, he managed to get another 2 qualifications, one of them being in child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr Sen has been practicing child psychiatry for 15 years. He proudly believes that he has ADHD. Working with children, the football and rock music, dreams and aspirations, have all come together for him. Through the myriads of magical and fulfilling experiences, Dr Sen feels that he has developed empathy over the years and can connect to children and their families. In doing so, he hopes to make a difference, however little, in their lives.