Homage to : Famous HIV
researcher, Dr Suniti Solomon
Famous HIV
researcher, Dr Suniti Solomon , first to
bring to the world the prevalence of HIV in India in 1986 and one who successfully led
research into the treatment of HIV and AIDS, passed away at her
residence in Chennai on 28th July 2015. She was 76 and had been under treatment for
two months for liver cancer
Dr Suniti
Solomon and her colleagues documented the first evidence of the HIV infection
in India in 1986 when blood samples of six commercial sex workers staying in a
government home here tested positive.
She studied medicine at the Madras
Medical College (this is where she met her husband—the late Dr Solomon Victor,
an eminent cardiologist). With a background in pathology, she went on to do her
doctorate in microbiology . In 1986, Dr Suniti Solomon was working as the professor of microbiology at the Madras
Medical College when she first discovered that the six blood samples collected
by one of her PhD students from female sex workers who were currently staying
at the government remand home on Kutchery Road in the Mylapore area of the city
contained the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV.
At that time, only a few places did ELISA testing and the samples were first sent to
Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore and then to the Johns Hopkins
University in Maryland, US, for confirmation. Dr Solomon was
moved so much by the stories of those six women, especially that of a
13-year-old among these. She revealed how the girl was kidnapped and forced
into the sex trade and how she managed to escape and reach the remand home. This was a turning point of sorts in Solomon’s life. Since then, her life
revolved around people infected with HIV. More than the virus itself, Dr Solomon was
concerned about the stigma HIV positive people faced . When the epidemic was
first discovered, people were afraid to go close to those with HIV. She felt
the pain they went through and worked to fight not just the virus but the
discrimination too. She went on to set
up the first voluntary counselling and testing centre for HIV at the Madras
Medical College. Dr Suniti Solomon set
up Y R Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education (YRG CARE), a premier
HIV/AIDS care and support centre, in Chennai.
She also published papers extensively on HIV epidemiology, prevention,
care, support and related gender issues. In 2012, Dr Suniti Solomon was given
the Lifetime Achievement Award for Service on HIV/AIDS by the state-run Dr MGR
Medical University here. In 2009, the ministry of science and technology
conferred the 'National Women Bio-scientist Award' on her. In 2001, she was
given a similar award for her pioneering work on HIV/AIDS by the state
run-medical varsity. A fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS),
New Delhi, she had served on several boards, including National Technical Team
on Women and AIDS, Advisory Board of the International AIDS Vaccine
Initiative-India, the Scientific Committee of the National AIDS Research
Institute Pune and the Microbicide Committee of Indian Council of Medical
Research.
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