Dr.Priya Abraham | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Indian |
Education | M.D and Ph.D. |
Alma mater | Christian Medical College Vellore |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Virology, Medicine |
Priya Abraham (born 1963/64) is an Indian scientist, medical doctor and one of the leading virologists in the country. She is known for her contributions in the field of testing techniques and genome studies of the Covid virus SARS-CoV-2. [1] Priya has served as the director of the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Her team came across the first sample of COVID-19 virus in India and isolated it. [2]
Priya hails from the Kottayam district in Kerala. She earned her MD and PhD in biology from Christian Medical College Vellore (CMC) in 1981. She was the head of the Clinical virology section at CMC and was first interested in hepatitis and human papillomaviruses. She has worked on committees for several viral infections at CMC and as a consultant for the World Health Organization on numerous viral infections. She has also served on the Indian Council of Medical Research's Scientific Advisory Committee. She has also participated in national viral infection surveillance research. [3]
Dr. Priya took over the director role at the ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune just two months before the outbreak of COVID-19 in India. Dr. Priya and her team made it possible for India to make significant progress in the direction of containing the spread of the virus by managing the logistics of transporting the testing kits to various testing labs and keeping an eye on any new emerging variants. [4] In September 2023, she was elected as fellow of the Indian National Science Academy. [5]
Ida Sophia Scudder was a third-generation American medical missionary in India. She sought to improve the plight of Indian women by fighting against bubonic plague, cholera and leprosy. In 1918, she started a teaching hospitals, the Christian Medical College & Hospital, in Vellore, India.
Christian Medical College, Vellore, widely known as CMC, Vellore, is a private, Christian minority community-run medical college and hospital in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. This institute includes a network of primary, secondary and tertiary care hospitals.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world.
Christian Medical College and Hospital, widely known as CMC Ludhiana, is a private, Christian minority-run teaching hospital and medical school in Ludhiana, India.
The National Institute of Virology in Pune, India is an Indian virology research institute and part of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It was previously known as 'Virus Research Centre' and was founded in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation. It has been designated as a WHO H5 reference laboratory for SE Asia region.
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Mammen Chandy is a former director of Tata Medical Center, Kolkata. Chandy, an alumnus of Christian Medical College,Vellore, is a pioneer in the field of bone marrow transplantation in India. He was involved in setting up the first bone marrow transplantation program in the country at Christian Medical College, Vellore in 1986. In January 2019, Chandy was awarded Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of medicine.
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