Gagandeep Kang
Clinician scientist & virologist from India who saved lives of countless children through her work on infectious disease epidemiology, treatment & cure.
Featuring artwork by Harsho Mohan & words by Dr. Sumbul Jawed Khan, Sci-Illustrate Stories. Set in motion by Dr. Radhika Patnala.
As the world tries to fight the global pandemic of Covid19, it has brought to our attention the importance of public health programs, vaccination drives, & medical research. It is also timely then to know the story of Gagandeep Kang, an eminent Indian virologist who has worked on treatment of viral infections in children.
Early years
Gagandeep Kang was born on Nov 3rd 1962 in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Gagandeep & her younger sister were brought up by their very supportive parents. Her mother was a teacher & her father was a mechanical engineer in the Indian Railways. Her father had a transferrable job, which meant that they had to move a lot & she had to change schools constantly (10 schools in total!), but it also meant that she was exposed to different cultures & made her more adaptable. She struck a connection with science from an early age, her father helped her set up physics & chemistry experiments at home that was a means of having fun. It became clear that she would make a career for herself in science.
She joined the Christian Medical College (C.M.C.), Vellore, for her medical degree. After finishing her M.B.B.S. & M.D. from C.M.C., she was drawn towards research, thinking that would help her make greater impact on society. She pursued her Ph. D. in Microbiology from CMC, and got married to a fellow neurosurgeon. She had her two sons during her Ph.D., which was not easy, but her family & close friends were always around to lend a helping hand.
She left for U.K. & the U.S. for further studies. She joined the lab of Mary K. Estes for her postdoc at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. This was a crucial time when she was trained as a virologist as Estes is an authority in virology & rotaviruses. After two years of research experience she returned to C.M.C. to join as a faculty where she carried out most of her research.
Becoming the ‘Vaccine Godmother’ of India
Over the last 30 years she has worked on rotaviruses, which cause enteric infection in children, and typhoid. She has taken a multi-pronged approach that involves carrying out phase I to III clinical trials of vaccines, providing lab support for vaccine development, & establishing surveillance networks for rotavirus & typhoid in affected populations. Her group has helped the development of two World Health Organization (W.H.O.) approved vaccines for the treatment of rotavirus, Rotavac (with Bharat Biotech) & Rotasiil (with Serum Institute), in collaboration with private companies, gaining her the title of ‘Vaccine God Mother’ of the country. She takes pride in terming this achievement as -
“A vaccine for India, by India, & in India!”
She has shown that Indian population needs higher doses of the vaccine for gut infections as the system is already under assault from various other pathogens. In addition, her work has shown how early childhood gut infections leads to compromised growth & cognitive development in children. By working on diverse topics, such as microbiology, immunology & epidemiology, she has successfully straddled the boundaries of basic research & translational medicine.
Finding local solutions to indigenous problems
Working in a developing country like India presents its own unique challenges; from paucity of funds, to mistrust of people in vaccination, to difficulty in getting reagents for experiments, Gagandeep has been successfully overcoming them through persistence & single-minded focus. When she was running surveillance programs to monitor spread of rotaviral infection in Vellore she discovered that impoverished communities where the disease was prevalent were unable to follow through. She found that most of the affected populations were daily wage earners, who couldn’t spare the time to visit a hospital located far away to submit the blood & stool samples of their children. She therefore took the hospital to them! She started a clinic within the area & also provided free healthcare to the children, facilitating their visit to the doctor. These clinics have been running successfully for the past 18 years.
She also has a community-based approach, where through her clinic she interacts with the community to keep them involved & builds their trust about the ongoing clinical trials. She takes them into confidences & makes it a joint effort. Her medical background along with a research focus has uniquely placed her to carry out these inter-disciplinary research projects.
In addition she advocates for good sanitation, healthy food & clean drinking water for the overall wellbeing of children & prevention of diseases. The data from her studies on vaccine trials & vaccine efficacy through surveillance programs of infectious diseases guides the Government policy for vaccination drives.
A national icon
A key to her success has been in making collaborations, both national & international, & in academia & industry. She has successfully developed training programs in translational medicine that will create the future generation of medical researchers. Her advice to her mentees is always to -
“Take on big problems, explore every aspect thoroughly by yourself or in collaboration, and do not give up.”
Her enormous body of work has gained her worldwide recognition, among which are Fellow of American Academy of Microbiology in 2010 and the 2016 Infosys Award in Life Sciences. She made history when she was elected to the Fellow of Royal Society of London (FRS) in 2019, becoming the first Indian woman to receive the title in 300 years of the society’s existence.
In addition to her position of professor at the department of Gastrointestinal Sciences at CMC, she is currently also the Executive Director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad. She is also the current chair of the W.H.O. Southeast-Asia region’s Immunization Technical Advisory Group.
Today, in 2020 when we are in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic & in need of guidance for controlling a deadly viral infectious disease, Gagandeep’s expertise has become invaluable. She has appeared on various print & TV media where her expert opinion has been sought. Gagandeep’s incredible journey has established her as an icon for not just women in science, but for scientists & scientific thought in the society.
Timeline:
1962- Born on Nov 3rd in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh
1986- M.B.B.S. from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
1991- M.D. from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
1998- Ph.D. from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
2000- MRC Path from Royal College of Pathologists, London, UK
2010- Selected Fellow of American Academy of Microbiology
2016- Infosys Science Prize in Life Sciences
2019- Selected Fellow of the Royal Society of London
Know More:
About the author:
DR. SUMBUL JAWED KHAN
Content Editor,Women In Science, Sci-Illustrate Stories.
Dr. Khan received her Ph. D. in Biological Sciences and Bioengineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where she studied the role of microenvironment in cancer progression and tumor formation. During her post-doctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Khan investigated the gene regulatory networks that are important for tissue regeneration after damage or wounding. Dr. Khan is committed to science outreach activities, to make scientific research understandable and relatable to the non-scientific community. She believes it is essential to inspire young people to apply scientific methods to tackle the current challenges faced by humanity.
About the artist:
HARSHO MOHAN CHATTORAJ
Contributing Artist, Sci-Illustrate stories
Harsho Mohan Chattoraj is a graphic novelist and illustrator based in Kolkata, India. He’s worked in the comic medium for fifteen years, on individual projects and for clients in India, UK, Australia and the US. Some of his recent graphic novels include ‘ Ghosts of Kingdoms Past’, ‘Destiny Awakes’, ‘Pagla Shaib’s Grave’, ‘Hyderabad Graphic Novel’ and ‘Kolkata Kaleidoscope’. Harsho also has worked as a journalist, visualizer, storyboard artist, voice-over artist and promo producer, but has always been a fan of comics since his first dosage of ‘Asterix’ at the wee age of five.
About this series:
These are stories I wish I knew when I was growing up.
There are the stories of persistence, ingenuity, calibre, scientific achievement against all odds.
These are the stories of Indian women who were the pioneers of Science in India.
These are stories of lives that must be remembered and cherished.
Sci-Illustrate stories is proud to add a new chapter in our WIS series where through the words of the sci-illustrate team, complimented by the artwork of a very talented Indian artist Arghya Manna, we will be revisiting and highlighting the lives of some incredible Indian women in science.
— Dr. Radhika Patnala, Series Director
