Dr. Soumya Swaminathan is a paediatrician and global expert in tuberculosis and HIV research, and was the first Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO). She previously served as Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) from 2015 to 2017.
She studied medicine at Armed Forces Medical College, Pune and completed her MD in Paediatrics from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, followed by post-doctoral fellowships in neonatology and paediatric pulmonology in the UK and USA.
With over 30 years of experience in clinical care and research, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan has worked throughout her career to translate research into impactful programmes, bringing science and evidence into health policy-making and forging south-south partnerships in health sciences. Since February 2023, she serves as Chair of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and as Principal Advisor to the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Publications
1. Pai M, Behr MA, Dowdy D, Dheda K, Divangahi M, Boehme CC, Ginsberg A, Swaminathan S, Spigelman M, Getahun H, Menzies D, Raviglione M. Tuberculosis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2016 Oct 27;2:16076. doi: [10.1038/nrdp.2016.76](https://doi.org/10.1038/nrdp.2016.76). PubMed PMID: 27784885.
2. Afshin A, Forouzanfar MH, Reitsma MB, Sur P, Estep K, Lee A, Swaminathan S, et al. Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195 Countries over 25 Years. N Engl J Med. 2017 Jun 12;377(1):13-27. doi: [10.1056/NEJMoa1614362](https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1614362). PubMed PMID: 28604169; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5477817.
3. Roth GA, Johnson C, Abajobir A, Swaminathan S, et al. Global, Regional, and National Burden of Cardiovascular Diseases for 10 Causes, 1990 to 2015. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017 May 17;70(1):1-25. doi: [10.1016/j.jacc.2017.04.052](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2017.04.052). PubMed PMID: 28527533; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5491406.
4. Pai M, Dewan PK, Swaminathan S. Transforming tuberculosis diagnosis. Nat Microbiol. 2023 May;8(5):756-759. doi: [10.1038/s41564-023-01365-3](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01365-3). PubMed PMID: 37127703.
5. Anjana RM, Deepa M, Pradeepa R, Mahanta J, Narain K, Das HK, Swaminathan S, Mohan V, et al. Prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes in 15 states of India: results from the ICMR-INDIAB population-based cross-sectional study. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2017 Jun 7;5(8):585-596. doi: [10.1016/S2213-8587(17)30174-2](https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(17)30174-2). PubMed PMID: 28601585.
