Balu Sankaran was a professor, scientist and recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Vibushan awards. He helped establish an artificial limbs manufacturing corporation and a rehabilitation institute.
After he returned to India from Manchester UK. Dr. Balu Sankaran taught few months in the Department of Anatomy at KMC Manipal before joining AIIMS Delhi.
Sankaran began his career as an Assistant Professor of Orthopedic Surgery in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in 1956. After 7 years as an Assistant Professor, he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1963 and continued with AIIMS till 1967. While working in AIIMS, he conducted basic medical research as a Rockefeller Foundation fellow at University of Chicago in United States. After his stint at AIIMS, he accepted a position as Professor in Maulana Azad Medical College till 1970. He served as a Director of Central Institute of Orthopedics during 1970 till 1978. He was offered to serve as the Director of World Health Organization in Geneva in 1981 and remained with WHO till 1987. He also served as the Chairman of the Rehabilitation Council of India between 1992 and 1994.