The ICMR Kshanika Oration Award was instituted in 1977 by Dr. K. N. Sen, former Professor of Medicine, School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata to be awarded to an eminent woman scientist for her meritorious work carried out in any of the branches of Biomedical Sciences. The award for the year 2007 is being presented to Dr Raj Mehra, Professor of Anatomy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi for her research work on 'Mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effects of estrogen in the female rat hippocampus'. Dr Mehra's major part of recent research activities has been focused on defining the role of estrogen on non-reproductive areas of brain related to memory and cognition with possible impact on post - menopausal therapy. Her group is perhaps the first to map out target neurons of hormone in hippocampus and report down regulation of its receptors (ERa & B) with aging. They demonstrated the coexistence of ER a in the GABAergic neurons and reported that the hormone depletion turns Bcl-2-Bax ratio in apoptotic mode in vivo whereas the estrogen replacement therapy reverses it to anti-apoptotic mode. Further, the selective-estrogen-receptor-modulator Tamoxifen exhibits estrogen-like biocharacter in hippocampus with potential towards developing an alternate therapy. These studies have helped to understand the observed low incidence and reduced morbidity of Alzheimer's disease in women receiving hormone therapy post-menopause. Prof. Mehra is a fellow of the Indian Academy of Neurosciences. She has established an effective collaboration with the group at Semmelwies University, Budapest.