Dr. Ambekar is a Psychiatrist; with full-time interest in Substance Use Disorders. He is a member of various expert bodies including UN Strategic Advisory Group on Injecting Drug Use and WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence. He has been instrumental in developing the capacity building programme on Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) in India and has been providing training to staff from India as well as other countries. He has authored a number of research papers, practice guidelines and training manuals. Harm reduction and Drug Policy are among his primary areas of interest.