Madhukar Pai

Last updated
Madhukar Pai
Born
Vellore, India
Alma mater
Known for Tuberculosis and public health research, equity advocacy
Awards

Madhukar Pai (also known as Madhu Pai) is an Indian medical doctor, academic, advocate, [1] writer, [2] and university professor. Pai's work is around global health, specifically advocacy for better treatment for tuberculosis [3] with a focus on South Africa and India. [4] [5] Pai is the inaugural Chair of the Department of Global and Public Health in the School of Population and Global Health [6] and holds a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Health at McGill University. [7]

Contents

Education

Pai completed medical training and his community medicine residency at the Christian Medical College [8] Vellore, India. [4] He received his Ph.D in epidemiology from University of California, Berkeley. [4] He also did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. [4]

Committees and editorial boards

Pai serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee of FIND (the global alliance for diagnostics) [4] and is on the World Health Organization's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In Vitro Diagnostics and the Access Advisory Committee of TB Alliance. [4] He is the Chair of the Public-Private Mix Working Group of the Stop TB Partnership. [4] Pai is also on the editorial boards of BMJ Global Health, PLoS Medicine, Lancet Infectious Diseases, [4] and is an Editor-in-Chief of PLOS Global Public Health. [9]

Advocacy

Pai is a frequent media commentator on the COVID-19 pandemic in India, [10] [2] [11] and in 2021 drew comparisons of the collective global action taken in response to the COVID19 pandemic versus the relative inaction towards tuberculosis. [12] His 2021 paper in PLOS Medicine addressed power asymmetries in global health. [13]

In 2020 [14] and in 2021 [15] he published papers and contributions about the decolonisation of global health work.

In 2021, Pai was critical of the global failure to widely vaccinate people against COVID-19, accused high-income nations of vaccine hoarding, and called for a waiver of intellectual property laws regarding COVID19 vaccines. [16] In 2022 he described the global response to COVID-19 as an "unmitigated disaster". [17]

Awards

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BCG vaccine</span> Vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis

Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine is a vaccine primarily used against tuberculosis (TB). It is named after its inventors Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin. In countries where tuberculosis or leprosy is common, one dose is recommended in healthy babies as soon after birth as possible. In areas where tuberculosis is not common, only children at high risk are typically immunized, while suspected cases of tuberculosis are individually tested for and treated. Adults who do not have tuberculosis and have not been previously immunized, but are frequently exposed, may be immunized, as well. BCG also has some effectiveness against Buruli ulcer infection and other nontuberculous mycobacterial infections. Additionally, it is sometimes used as part of the treatment of bladder cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuberculosis</span> Infectious disease

Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in which case it is known as latent tuberculosis. Around 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if left untreated, kill about half of those affected. Typical symptoms of active TB are chronic cough with blood-containing mucus, fever, night sweats, and weight loss. Infection of other organs can cause a wide range of symptoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global health</span> Health of populations in a global context

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis</span> Tuberculosis that is resistant to the most effective drugs

Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a form of tuberculosis caused by bacteria that are resistant to some of the most effective anti-TB drugs. XDR-TB strains have arisen after the mismanagement of individuals with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">FIND, the global alliance for diagnostics</span> Swiss global health nonprofit organization

FIND is a global health non-profit based in Geneva, Switzerland. FIND functions as a product development partnership, engaging in active collaboration with over 150 partners to facilitate the development, evaluation, and implementation of diagnostic tests for poverty-related diseases. The organisation's Geneva headquarters are in Campus Biotech. Country offices are located in New Delhi, India; Cape Town, South Africa; and Hanoi, Viet Nam.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuberculosis in India</span> Health issue in India

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References

  1. Dustin, Graham (2018-09-24). "Backstory Podcast: Dr. Madhukar Pai discusses the UN High Level Meeting to End TB". On Medicine. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  2. 1 2 "Opinion | India's covid-19 crisis is a dire warning for all countries". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  3. "Pai M[Author] - Search Results - PubMed". PubMed. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Madhukar Pai". McGill University.
  5. "Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD - Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre - RI-MUHC". Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  6. "Alumnus Madhukar Pai named chair of Department of Global and Public Health at McGill University". Berkeley Public Health. 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  7. "The Chair". Department of Global and Public Health. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
  8. Pai, Madhu (March 2021). "Madhu Pai CV" (PDF).
  9. "PLOS Global Public Health: A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal". journals.plos.org. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  10. The National (2021). "Canadian doctor weighs in on COVID-19 crisis in India". CBC.
  11. "Analysis | As India sets a record for covid-19 deaths, variant worries grow globally". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  12. Furin, Jennifer; Pai, Madhukar (2021-03-22). "We went all-out to tackle Covid-19 – TB needs the same approach". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2021-11-13.
  13. Abimbola, Seye; Asthana, Sumegha; Montenegro, Cristian; Guinto, Renzo R.; Jumbam, Desmond Tanko; Louskieter, Lance; Kabubei, Kenneth Munge; Munshi, Shehnaz; Muraya, Kui; Okumu, Fredros; Saha, Senjuti (2021-04-22). "Addressing power asymmetries in global health: Imperatives in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic". PLOS Medicine. 18 (4): e1003604. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003604 . ISSN   1549-1676. PMC   8101997 . PMID   33886540.
  14. Abimbola, Seye; Pai, Madhukar (2020-11-21). "Will global health survive its decolonisation?". The Lancet. 396 (10263): 1627–1628. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32417-X. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   33220735. S2CID   227064067.
  15. Pai, Madhukar. "Decolonizing Global Health: A Moment To Reflect On A Movement". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  16. Valentine, Ashish (2021-12-09). "Fix the global vaccine rollout or face even worse COVID variants, experts warn". NPR. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  17. "Infectious disease expert calls global COVID-19 response an 'unmitigated disaster'". Coronavirus. 2022-01-25. Retrieved 2022-03-03.
  18. "Dr. Madhukar Pai and Dr. Nitika Pai co-laureates of the 2012 Chanchla…". archive.md. 2013-06-30. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 2021-11-13.