Five health experts with roots in Punjab in Queen’s Birthday Honours spotlight
Indian-origin healthcare experts involved in the field of Covid-19 vaccine trials and community support efforts are among those in the spotlight at the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
The Queen’s Birthday Honours List, unveiled on Friday evening, is released every year to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II’S official birthday celebrations held during the second weekend of June. This time, it has a special focus on the extraordinary efforts made by individuals across the country during the pandemic.
Kolkata-born Divya Chadha Manek has been honoured with an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the government during the Covid-19 response for her involvement in the research and development of vaccines and the resulting clinical trials.
Manek, whose father was a Punjabi, moved to the UK as a teenager. She is now the director of business development and marketing at the British government’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network, was at the heart of ensuring that Covid-19 vaccines could be put through requisite trials for a timely deployment as the clinical trials workstream lead at the UK’S vaccine taskforce.
Among the over 30 Indian-origin honours recipients for 2021 include OBES for Jasvinder Singh Rai, founder and chairman of the Sikh Recovery Network for services to the Sikh community during the pandemic, and Jasjyot Singh of Lloyds Banking Group for services to financial services during the pandemic.
Those honoured as Members of the British Empire (MBE) include Devina Banerjee, from Vaccine Taskforce, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for services to Covid-19 vaccine development, Anoop Jivan Chauhan, professor of respiratory medicine and executive director of Research, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, for services to respiratory medicine, and Dr Ananthakrishnan Raghuram, consultant physician, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, for services to the NHS and Covid-19 response.
Others across different fields honoured with an OBE include Jagjit Singh Chadha, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, for services to economics and economic policy, actress and writer Lolita Chakrabarti for services to drama, and Sumita Singha for services to architecture.
Those receiving MBES include Vimalkumar Choksi, councillor, Ashton Waterloo, Tameside, for services to the community in Greater Manchester and Gurveer Dhami, senior private secretary to the Secretary of State For Education, among others.