Soumya Swaminathan (born 2 May 1959) is an Indian paediatrician and clinical scientist known for her research on

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and HIV. Swaminathan served as Secretary to the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

for Health Research and Director General of the

Indian Council of Medical Research 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. The ICMR is funded by the Gove ...

(2015–2017), where she prioritized evidence-based health policy, research capacity building in medical schools, and strengthening south-south partnerships in health sciences. From October 2017 to March 2019, she was the deputy director general of programmes (DDP) at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

. Subsequently till 2022, she served as the chief scientist at the

under the leadership of

Director General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (, sometimes spelled ; born 3 March 1965) is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, diplomat, and the DGWHO, Director-General of the World Health Organization since 2017. He is the first African to become W ...

Early life and education

Soumya Swaminathan was born in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, India. Swaminathan is the daughter of "Father of Green Revolution of India", M. S. Swaminathan and Indian educationalist Mina Swaminathan. Swaminathan has two siblings, Madhura Swaminathan, a professor of

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at the

Indian Statistical Institute The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a public research university headquartered in Kolkata, India with centers in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Tezpur. It was declared an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India und ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, and Nitya Rao, a professor of

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

and

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

. Swaminathan received an M.B.B.S. from the Armed Forces Medical College in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

. She has an

M.D. A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of physician. This ge ...

pediatrics Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, Adolescence, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many o ...

from

All India Institute of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. These institutes ha ...

in New Delhi. She is a Diplomate of National Board from National Board of Examinations. As part of her training, from 1987 to 1989 Swaminathan completed a post-doctoral medical fellowship in

neonatology Neonatology is a subspecialty of pediatrics that consists of the medical care of newborn infants, especially the ill or premature newborn. It is a hospital-based specialty and is usually practised in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Th ...

and

pediatric Pediatrics (American English) also spelled paediatrics (British English), is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, pediatrics covers many of their youth ...

pulmonology Pulmonology (, , from Latin ''pulmō, -ōnis'' "lung" and the Greek suffix "study of"), pneumology (, built on Greek πνεύμων "lung") or pneumonology () is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract. ...

at the

Children's Hospital Los Angeles Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care Pediatrics, children's hospital in the East Hollywood, Los Angeles, East Hollywood district of Los Angeles, on Sunset Boulevard at the corner of Vermont Avenue ...

at the

Keck School of Medicine of USC The USC Keck School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Southern California. The school teaches and trains physicians, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, conducts medical research, and treats patients. F ...

Career

Early career

From 1989 to 1990, Swaminathan was a research fellow (registrar) in the Department of Pediatric Respiratory Diseases at the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

in the United Kingdom. She then worked as a senior research officer (Supernumerary Research Cadre), Cardiopulmonary Medicine Unit, as well as an adjunct associate clinical professor at the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at

Tufts University School of Medicine The Tufts University School of Medicine is the medical school of Tufts University, a Private university, private research university in Massachusetts. It was established in 1893 and is located on the university's health sciences campus in down ...

in Massachusetts. In 1992, Swaminathan joined the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis a/k/a Tuberculosis Research Centre, where she was Coordinator, Neglected Tropical Diseases. She later became the director of the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis. From 2009 to 2011, Swaminathan was coordinator of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases in Geneva. Until 2013, she was director, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT) in Chennai. From August 2015 to November 2017, Swaminathan was director general of the

(ICMR) and secretary of the Department of Health Research (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare) for the Government of India.

Career with WHO

From October 2017 to March 2019, Swaminathan was deputy director-general of the World Health Organization. In March 2019, Swaminathan became chief scientist of the World Health Organization, where she notably participated in regular twice weekly press briefings on the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. She has urged countries to conduct

whole genome sequencing Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing or just genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a single time. This entails sequencing all of an organism's ...

of the

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...

virus more frequently and to upload sequences to the

GISAID GISAID (), the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data, previously the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data, is a global science initiative established in 2008 to provide access to genomic data of influenza viruses. The datab ...

project. In the preparations for the Global Health Summit hosted by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

and the G20 in May 2021, Swaminathan was a member of the event's High Level Scientific Panel. Starting April 1, 2025, she will be serving as one of NUS Board of Trustees.

Selected research

Swaminathan's areas of interest are paediatric and adult

(TB), epidemiology and pathogenesis, and the role of nutrition in HIV-associated TB. While at the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis in Chennai, Swaminathan 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. She was part of the TB Zero City Project which aimed to create "Islands of elimination" working with local governments, institutions and grassroots associations. In 2021, Swaminathan was also appointed to the Pandemic Preparedness Partnership (PPP), an expert group chaired by

Patrick Vallance Patrick John Thompson Vallance, Baron Vallance of Balham (born 17 March 1960), is a British physician, scientist, life peer, and clinical pharmacologist who has served as Minister of State for Science in the Department for Science, Innovatio ...

to advise the G7 presidency held by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

of Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

Other activities

Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

(FIND), member of the board of directors (since 2023) *

Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (the Alliance) is an international partnership hosted at World Health Organization Headquarters that works to improve the health of those in low and middle-income countries by supporting the gen ...

, Member of the Board *

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging ...

(CEPI), non-voting member of the board (until 2022), voting member of the board (since 2023) * GISAID, Member of the SAC Nomination Committee (since 2023) * Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership ( GARDP), non-voting member of the board of directors * Global Coalition Against TB, member of the expert group * WomenLift Health, member of the global advisory board * Advisor, Resource Group for Education and Advocacy for Community Health (REACH)

Awards

* 2016: AstraZeneca Research Endowment Award, presented by the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, S.A.S. Nagar

Personal life

Swaminathan is married to Ajit Yadav, an orthopedic surgeon. The couple has a daughter, Shreya Yadav and a son, Akshay Yadav.

Selected works and publications

* * *

References

External links

Soumya Swaminathan
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swaminathan, Soumya 1959 births All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi alumni COVID-19 researchers Fellows of the National Academy of Medical Sciences HIV/AIDS researchers Indian Council of Medical Research Indian expatriates in England Indian expatriates in the United States Indian medical researchers Indian paediatricians Indian women medical doctors Keck School of Medicine of USC alumni Living people Members of the National Academy of Medicine Scientists from Chennai University of Madras alumni Women pediatricians World Health Organization officials

Early life and education

Career

Early career

Career with WHO

Selected research

Other activities

Awards

Personal life

Selected works and publications

References

Further reading

External links