Dr B.R. Shamanna completed his medical education from Karnatak Medical College, Hubli, and his MD in Community Medicine from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He also holds a double Diplomate of the National Board in Maternal & Child Health as well as Social & Preventive Medicine. He completed his M.Sc. from University College London with distinction in Community Eye Health.. He served as a Senior Research Officer in the International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD), a WHO-PAMMUNICEF Organization and later as a Senior Resident & Medical Officer, Primary Health Centre in Haryana. Dr. Shamanna has been closely associated with the development and implementation of activities of two large WHO Collaborating Centres for Prevention of Blindness in India, first with the Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology of the Aravind Eye Care System in Madurai and with the International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care of the L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad. He is a visiting faculty to the Masters in Public Health Eyecare at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as is a Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the School of Visual Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He is a Visiting Professor to the Manipal University, India and an Adjunct Faculty with the Public Health Foundation of India.
His interests are Health & Welfare economics, Disability Inclusive Development, Education and teaching methods and Alternative opinions and Politics in Health Care.