She happens to be the first woman Indian scientist who has played a significant role in developing indigenous vaccines against rotavirus and typhoid
Gagandeep Kang, Executive Director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad has been inducted as Royal Society Fellow. She was on a sabbatical from CMC, Vellore to work with THSTI.
Biologist Gagandeep Kang became the first Indian woman to be inducted as Fellow of the Royal Society in its 359 years of history. Kang, known for her interdisciplinary research of enteric infections among children, has played a significant role in developing indigenous vaccines against rotavirus and typhoid.
Kang, a professor at Vellore’s Christian Medical College, is on a sabbatical. She is currently working as executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) in Faridabad. In 2016, she was awarded the Infosys Prize in Life Sciences for her work in public health when she was the chairperson of the WHO Southeast-Asia region’s Immunisation Technical Advisory Group.
“Kang is investigating the complex relationships between infection, gut function and physical and cognitive development, and seeking to build a stronger human immunology research in India. She has established strong training programmes for students and young faculty in clinical translational medicine aiming to build a cadre of clinical researchers studying relevant problems in India,” her profile on the Royal Society website reads.
The 57-year-old researcher is a part of the list which includes Canadian-American mathematician of Indian origin Manjul Bharghava who is Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University in the US.