Dr. Ashwin Dalal is a distinguished clinical geneticist, pediatrician, and research scientist who serves as Head of the Diagnostics Division at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) in Hyderabad, one of India’s premier biomedical research and molecular diagnostics institutions funded by the Department of Biotechnology. In this leadership role, he guides the strategic direction, clinical services, and scientific excellence of the diagnostics division, which focuses on advanced genetic testing, dysmorphology evaluation, neurogenetics, fetal medicine, and molecular characterization of inherited disorders—critical support for both clinical care and population-scale research in rare and complex diseases.

Dr. Dalal’s academic journey began with an MBBS degree, where he was honored with a gold medal for academic excellence, followed by an MD in Pediatrics from Goa Medical College, Goa University. He then completed his super-specialty training with a DM in Medical Genetics at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, gaining deep expertise in clinical, molecular, and biochemical genetics.

Since joining CDFD in 2007, Dr. Dalal has built a distinguished career bridging diagnostic science, research, and education. His research interests span clinical dysmorphology, mapping of genes for single-gene disorders, high-throughput genomic analyses, and applications of next-generation sequencing (NGS) to improve diagnosis of rare genetic diseases. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed national and international journals and has led multiple research projects funded by major agencies such as the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and the Department of Science & Technology (DST).

Under his leadership, the diagnostics division at CDFD has played a pivotal role in national initiatives such as GenomeIndia and the Pediatric Rare Genetic Disorders (PRaGeD) mission, contributing data interpretation, variant analysis, and clinical integration that enhance understanding of genetic diversity and disease mechanisms in the Indian population.

Dr. Dalal is also deeply committed to mentoring and capacity-building, including training clinicians, researchers, and students in medical genetics and diagnostics. His contributions have helped position CDFD’s diagnostics division as a center of excellence for molecular testing and clinical genetics in India, offering sophisticated services that span cytogenetics, NGS-based assays, metabolic workups, and genotype–phenotype correlations.