About Dr. Ramalingaswami
Born on August 8, 1921, Professor Vulimiri Ramalingaswami’s illustrious medical career spanned over half an extremely eventful century. Starting as a Clinical Research Officer at the Nutrition Research Laboratory in Coonoor in 1947, Professor Ramalingaswami went on to become the Director of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (1969-79) and the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (1979-1986). Dr. Ramalingaswami continued to be a National Research Professor until his death on May 28, 2001. Along the way, he garnered several honours, including the Founding Fellow of the Indian Academy of Medical Sciences; Fellow, Royal College of Physicians; Honorary Fellow, American College of Physicians; and Fellow, Royal Society of London, among others. He received numerous awards, including the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.
Professor Ramalingaswami’s contributions to medical research are well-documented, in areas ranging from anaemia, protein-energy malnutrition and nutritional pathologies to liver disease, cardiovascular disease and iodine deficiency disorders. Over time, his interest in and understanding of the social determinants of health increasingly informed his research and writing. In ‘Anatomy of Hunger’, a conference paper he wrote in 1976, he speaks of the ‘chronic or endemic hunger and malnutrition which are woven into the complex social texture of under-development’. His views were profoundly impacted by his visit in 1967 to famine-torn Bihar as well as districts of Orissa; and later in the Bangladeshi refugee camps in 1971-72. Later he was involved in mobilising the response to the Bhopal gas tragedy and the outbreak of bubonic plague in Maharashtra and Gujarat in 1994. These experiences built his understanding of the genesis of disease and the need of a strong and resilient health system to mitigate the worst impacts of health disasters.
Professor Ramalingaswami was truly a leader in his field, who in turn mentored and groomed several others in the next generation. His spirit of lively curiosity, commitment to excellence and scholarship, accompanied by a deep awareness of social inequalities and the need to redress them, guides the Ramalingaswami Centre on Equity and Social Determinants of Health.
