Over a long career at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Hegde served in various positions such as Professor, Principal and Dean. He was appointed the Vice Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education in 1999 and served till 2003.[3] He was an Independent Director of Zydus Wellness.[7] He also served as chairman of an expert committee of Bihar State Health Society[8]
He has proposed that 'quantum healing' can bring sick persons back to normal,[5][13] a concept widely regarded in the scientific community as pseudoscientific.[14][15]
In 2019, when Hegde was invited to deliver a lecture on "Sauce of Happiness" at the campus of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, he was called a proponent of "pseudo-science and quackery" by a group of research scholars, who questioned his criticism of modern medicine and accused him of promoting unverified treatments for various ailments.[16] Hegde said it showed "how much the protesters knew about science."[17]
His TEDx talk on "Change is life" was flagged by TED as containing medical fallacies and sweeping generalizations. TED said that the assertions made in the talk lacked legitimate scientific support. [18]
Hegde has also written articles and given talks in support of homeopathy, regarded globally as a pseudoscience.[19] Hegde argues that even if one thinks incorrectly that Homeopathy is a placebo, it is still important, as most modern medicine is worse than placebo.[20][21][4]
^ ab"List of Fellows – NAMS"(PDF). National Academy of Medical Sciences. 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
^""BC Roy award for PGI doctor"". The Tribune,India. 30 June 2000. Retrieved 15 November 2021. Dr B.M. Hegde, Vice-Chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, ... have been awarded for their services as eminent medical teachers
^"Innovative medical journal for humanistic medicine"(PDF). Retrieved 15 November 2021. he has teamed up with Professor Rustum Roy to start an innovative journal called JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF HEALING DISEASES (JSHO)
^"Bio". www.thejsho.com. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
^Hegde, B. M (15 September 2015). "Some thoughts on 'quantum healing'". The Hindu. Retrieved 18 November 2021. Quantum healing is what happens when your own volition can make it happen during the oscillation between matter and energy to rebuild the damaged part ... Auto-healing, akin to quantum healing, brings one back to normalcy. This alone can be called cure.
^Ladyman J (2013). "Chapter 3: Towards a Demarcation of Science from Pseudoscience". In Pigliucci M, Boudry M (eds.). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. University of Chicago Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN978-0-226-05196-3. Yet homeopathy is a paradigmatic example of pseudoscience. It is neither simply bad science nor science fraud, but rather profoundly departs from scientific method and theories while being described as scientific by some of its adherents (often sincerely).
^Hegde, B.M. (4 January 2012). ""Homeopathy-science or fraud?"". Retrieved 15 November 2021. Lots of people have an idea that homeopathy is only a placebo and not effective otherwise. This is not true ... Therefore, even if one were to think that homeopathy is only a placebo, it does not belittle its importance as most of our modern medical drugs are worse than placebos
