Dr Aashish Contractor is widely recognized as the pioneer of cardiac rehabilitation in India. He is currently head of department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine at the Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai. Prior to this he was the head of department of preventive cardiology and rehabilitation at the Asian Heart Institute from its inception in 2002, till 2014. He had the distinction of being part of the Asian Heart team which treated the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, after his redo bypass surgery in January 2009 and was in charge of his post-surgery cardiac rehabilitation. Dr Contractor is the vice-chairman of the International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, which includes twenty-five countries. He is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Chester, United Kingdom and has served as the Certification Director of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in India since November 2003.