Soumya Swaminathan: The World’s Guardian Angel

From providing clarity about the possibility of subsequent waves to raising alarms about the gravity of the Covid-19 situation unfolding in various countries, Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization, spearheaded the global war against the virus. “The major challenge for me was to stay on top of everything,” says Swaminathan, the first chief scientist at the World Health Organization. She has had an illustrious career spanning 30 years in clinical care and research, serving in various official capacities in India and abroad. She has earned accolades for her research on tuberculosis and HIV, and achieved success in roles such as Secretary to the Government of India for health research, and Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research from 2015 to 2017. “Everything in my career happened naturally, but my only passion was in research. That is why I focussed on TB, which is a huge health problem in India,” she says.