Soumya Swaminathan (scientist)

Soumya Swaminathan
Born (1959-05-02) 2 May 1959
Chennai, India
Residence New Delhi, India
Nationality India
Parent(s) M. S. Swaminathan
Mina Swaminathan

Soumya Swaminathan is an Indian Paediatrician and Clinical Scientist known for her work in Tuberculosis.[1][2] On 3 October 2017, she has been appointed as the Deputy Director General of Programmes (DDP) at the World Health Organization by the Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.[3] Most recently, she has been working as Secretary, Department of Health Research - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of Biomedical research.[1][4]

Education

Swaminathan holds M.B.B.S. from Armed Forces Medical College and M.D. from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, along with a Diplomate of National Board from National Board of Examinations. She subsequently held Post Doctoral Medical Fellowship in Pediatric Pulmonology at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.[5]

Personal life

Soumya Swaminathan is the daughter of "Indian Father of Green Revolution" M. S. Swaminathan and Indian educationalist Mina Swaminathan. Soumya has two siblings, Madhura Swaminathan, a professor of economics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, and Nithya Swaminathan, a Senior Lecturer in "Gender Analysis" and Development at the University of East Anglia. [6]

Professional career

  • Fellowship in Neonatology and Pediatric Pulmonology (1987 - 1989) at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, University of Southern California, USA.
  • Research Fellow (Registrar) in the Dept of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases, University of Leicester, UK: 1989-1990.
  • Senior Research Officer (Supernumerary Research Cadre), Cardiopulmonary Medicine Unit,
  • Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor, Dept. of Public Health and Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine[7]
  • Director - National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis

Professional Memberships

  • Membership, National Academy of Medical Sciences - NBE (Pediatrics)
  • Chair, HIV Section, International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases
  • Member, International Scientific Advisory Expert Group on Global Tuberculosis (APPG TB)
  • Member, Third World Organization of Women Scientists
  • Member, International AIDS Committee
  • Life Member, Indian Academy of Pediatrics

Membership on Committees

National

  • Member, National Editorial Advisory Board, Indian Journal of Pediatrics
  • Chair, Indo – Brazil Working Group on Science & Technology
  • Member, Indo-US Joint Working Group on Maternal and Child Health, ICMR

International

  • Member, International Editorial Board, Clinical Infectious Diseases
  • Member, Childhood TB subgroup, DOTS Expansion Working Group, Stop TB partnership
  • Member, Tuberculosis Steering Committee, IMPAACT Network, NIH, USA
  • Member, International Conference Organizing Committee, International AIDS Society Conference, Rome 2011 and Kuala Lumpur, 2013

Awards

  • 1999 Dr. Keya Lahiri Gold Medal for best paper presented, XI National Pediatric Pulmonary Conference
  • 2008 Indian Council of Medical Research, Kshanika Oration Award
  • 2009 Elected Vice-Chair, HIV section, International Union against TB and Lung Diseases
  • 2011 Fellow, Indian Academy of Pediatrics
  • 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award, Indian Association of Applied Microbiologists
  • 2012 Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Award
  • 2012 Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, India
  • 2013 Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore
  • 2016 ASTRAZENECA research endowment award, NIPER [8]

Research highlights

  • Soumya Swaminathan joined the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis in Chennai in 1992 (later became its director). She started a multi-disciplinary group of clinical, laboratory and behavioural scientists studying various aspects of TB and TB/HIV. Swaminathan along with her colleagues were among the first to scale up the use of molecular diagnostics for TB surveillance and care, to undertake large field trials of community-randomised strategies to deliver TB treatment to underserved populations.[9] Most recently she is part of the TB Zero City Project which aims to create "Islands of elimination" working with local governments, institutions and grassroots associations.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 Nikita Mehta. "Soumya Swaminathan to take charge of Indian Council of Medical Research". Live Mint.
  2. ↑ "Dr. Soumya Swaminathan" (PDF). Indian Council of Medical Research. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
  3. ↑ "WHO Headquarters Leadership Team". World Health Organization. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  4. ↑ "Podcast: Sentinel Project on Pediatric Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis". The Hindu.
  5. ↑ "Secretary Profile". Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
  6. ↑ "Image, The Hindu Business Line". Archived from the original on May 25, 2006. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  7. ↑ ISITE Design. "Soumya Swaminathan, MD, MNAMS". tufts.edu.
  8. ↑ "Index of /silverjubilee". niper.ac.in. Retrieved 2016-02-19.
  9. ↑ Das, Pamela (2016-03-19). "Soumya Swaminathan: re-energising tuberculosis research in India". The Lancet. 387 (10024): 1153. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)30008-3. ISSN 0140-6736.
  10. ↑ "Site 1: Chennai, India — Advance Access & Delivery". 2017-02-16. Archived from the original on 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
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