PR Krishna Kumar, Managing Director, Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, Coimbatore has been honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shree in 2009.
He is the head of The Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, a premier Ayurvedic institution in the country, involved in the production of quality medicines, promotion of Ayurvedic education, research and clinical services and the second best traditional house in the South.
He initiated the first ever clinical research in traditional medicines under WHO and ICMR partnership in 1977 to study the efficacy of Ayurvedic treatment on Rheumatoid arthritis. He conceived and implemented a unique 7 ½ years educational program for Ayurveda totally free, affiliated to Madras University and later to Bharathiar University and also approved by the Central Council for Indian Medicine (CCIM), which created a unique breed of Ayurveda scholars.