The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Debunking myths during the pandemic to putting her foot down on dengue vaccine
ON NOVEMBER 30, 2022, Dr Soumya Swaminathan stepped out to take in the sights and sounds of Geneva “one last time”. It was her last working day as Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO) and a leisurely walk through the streets brought on a rush of memories — from how, early into her five-year stint, she sat through a crucial WHO board meeting “that would just not end” while she popped pills to keep a fever down, to planning the first research and innovation forum on Covid-19 as she went on to become the global voice for WHO during the pandemic.
When Dr Swaminathan took on the WHO role in 2019, it was a completely “unscripted play”. For one, there was no clarity on the chief scientist’s role that had just beencreated.andthen,justasshe settled in, the world was gripped by the raging Covid-19 pandemic that brought in its wake deep fears, doubts and rumours.
Through all the uncertainties, what kept Swaminathan going was her faith in science. “In the faceofopposition,sticktoscience. Havefaithinyourfindingsanddefend them. Luckily, there was science to fall back on. Ultimately it was science that saved us,” she is quoted as saying in At The Wheel Of Research,asoon-to-be-released biography of the senior scientist authored by Anuradha Mascarenhas, Senior Editor with The Indian Express. The book provides insights into the life of the acclaimed researcher who emerged as one of the most trusted scientific voices in the world.sowhetheritwastakingto socialmediatoaddressdoubtsrelatedtovaccinestofightcovid-19, debunkingconspiracytheories,or personallywritingtoabollywood celebrity asking for a tweet to be takendown,shepatientlyworked to fight fake news and misinformation during the pandemic.
The eldest of three daughters born to Dr M S Swaminathan, the ‘Father of the Green Revolution’, and educationist Mina Swaminathan, Dr Soumya Swaminathan earned her MBBS from Pune’s Armed Forces Medical College and MD from Aiims,delhi.shethenmovedtothe US for a postdoctoral medical fellowship in neonatology and paediatric pulmonology. Dr Swaminathan would later join ICMR'S National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), wheresheresearchedextensively on pulmonary physiology and pathology in children. She would go on to do pioneering work in Hivandtb,winningaccoladesfor her research contributions. In August 2015, she became the first woman Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, the apex body in the country for medical research.
As DG-ICMR, Dr Swaminathan was caught in a raging debate in 2015 over a prospective dengue vaccine. That year,asdenguecasesrose,shewas undertremendouspressurefrom some officials to introduce Dengvaxia, the first licensed dengue vaccine developed by French company Sanofi Pasteur.
Dr Swaminathan backed an expert committee that had serious concerns about the vaccine and,despitepressurefromseveral quarters, stood her ground. India neverapproveddengvaxia–acall that would in hindsight prove to be prescient as the vaccine ran into a controversy in the Philippines, where it was banned in2017.thebookmentionshowa relieved Dr Swaminathan wrote an email to her colleagues in the Icmrandthehealthministry,saying, “Thank God for the systems that were in place. We must respect our institutional systems andmechanismsandlistentoscientific opinion.”
Dr Swaminathan also understood how vital it was to explain technicaldetailstopolicymakers. The book talks about an episode when her intervention proved crucial. As DG-ICMR, she was aware of how key files often get stuck with government departments, endlessly awaiting approval. One such file pertained to funding at the Pune-based Icmrnational Institute of Virology’s Biosafety level 4 facility. Aware of how critical the facility was, Dr Swaminathan decided to meet the then finance secretary to explain the role of the laboratory that was capable of detection and research on viruses and dangerous pathogens. Dr Swaminathan managedtoconvincethebureaucrat, who went on to clear the file. Needless to say, the laboratory ended up as one of the most prized assets in the country during Covid-19, when it was tasked with the isolation and genomic sequencing of the SARS-COV2 virus and its variants.
In December 2017, when she was offered the post of Director General at WHO, after which she transitioned into the role of WHO’S first Chief Scientist, Dr Swaminathan accepted it “reluctantly” since she thought she had manymoretaskstoaccomplishat
Icmr,butlookingback,sheisglad shetookupthenewrole.“theopportunity it provided me to put to best use all of my skills during an emergencyisaonce-in-a-lifetime opportunity,”thebookquotesher as saying.
Late in 2022, just as the world was recovering from the pandemic, Dr Swaminathan left Who.inthebook,shetalksabout how the learnings from the pandemic should be utilised to tackle other diseases while providing a comprehensive overview of why adopting a planetary health approach is the only way forward. Now back in India, another new chapter unfolds for Dr Swaminathan,whoheadsthems Swaminathan Research Foundation and works on her father’s vision of interlinking agriculture, nutrition and health.