Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan conferred the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)'s awards for excellence in biomedical research .
The ICMR awards recognise the contributions of Indian biomedical scientists undertaking pioneering work in various fields of health sciences and finding solutions for the health problems of the country.
A total of 39 awards were presented to 46 scientists including 14 women scientists for 2017 and 2018.
The awardees belongs to institutions of ICMR, CSIR, AIIMS, PGI, Chandigarh, SGPGI, Lucknow, IITs, JIPMER, Puducherry, SCTIMST, Thiruvananthapuram, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, State and Central Universities and other reputed Institutions across the country.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan congratulated the awardees for their contribution in the area of health research that will provide new ways and means to solve various health issues.
He said, “It is a need of hour to strengthen innovation for developing new technologies as well as to carry out research to reduce out of pocket expenditures and help in reducing disease burden.”
He appreciated ICMR's efforts in tackling emerging and re-emerging infections like ZIKA and NIPAH in the country.
Secretary Department of Health Research and ICMR Director General, Prof. Balram Bhargava, said, "It has been ICMR’s endeavour for over a century now to promote scientific research as well as provide scientists with the necessary platform and tools to find solutions to the most difficult health challenges. It is heartening to see the talent pool available in our country today. It gives us immense hope for the future. It will be our constant endeavour to create an enabling environment for the next generation scientists to help them achieve their full potential and serve the nation.”
The Minister also released a book titled ‘’Gandhi and Swasthya’’, which is the Hindi version of the special issue of Indian Journal of Medical Research brought out to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and a special stamp to mark the centenary of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad .
He also gave away the ICMR-NIN Centenary Award, which was posthmously awarded to former DG ICMR, late Dr. C. Gopalan, who passed away earlier this year. The award was presented to late Dr. Gopalan's son Dr. Sharad Gopal.
- India Science Wire
