13. Kamal Ranadive (1917 – to date)



Kamal Ranadive was a biomedical researcher who lived in the early part of this century. One of her contributions was to discover the link between cancer and viruses. Tissue culture techniques were developed at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States. After returning to India, she set up an institute to conduct experiments in biology and tissue culture in Mumbai. She worked as the Director of the Indian Institute of Cancer Research and studied the relationship between cancer and genetics and childhood cancer. As a result of her  research, she  helped to find the causes of leukemia, breast cancer and lung cancer.

 

Kamal Ranadive or Kamal Jayasingh Ranadive was born on November 8, 1917 in Maharashtra. In a society at that time where women were generally not allowed to get more education, father Dinakar Dattatreya Samarath, a botanist and mother Shantabhai, who was a teacher at Fergusson College in Poona, were keen to give their children maximum education. Kamala was good at studying. She studied at HCPP School at Husurpaga. Father wanted them to marry a doctor and live as a medical doctor. But Kamal chose something else. She studied Botany and Zoology at Ferguson College. In these subjects in 1934, she completed her B.Sc.  She then completed her master's degree in 1943 from Agricultural College, Poona, specializing in cytogenetics. She married JT Ranadive, a mathematician. The couple then moved to Bombay. They also had a son named Anil Jayasingh.

She joined the Tata Memorial Institute in Bombay. Her husband helped her study cytology while studying for her master's degree. While working at the Tata Institute, she completed her Ph.D. at Bombay University. Continued research for with her guide V.R. Khanolkar who was a famous pathologist and the founder of the Indian Cancer Research Institute. After her PhD, her guide encouraged her them to pursue further research at one of the American universities. Kamal got an to do research under Professor George Gray at the famous John Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA.

Professional life

After returning to India, Kamal joined the Indian Cancer Research Institute as a Senior Research Officer. A laboratory for experimental biology and tissue culture experiments was established there. From 1966 to 1970 she also worked as a temporary director of that institution. She  and her  fellow students developed media and materials for tissue culture, combining biology and chemistry. Research units were established in cancer genesis, immunology and cell biology. In these efforts, they led to the discovery of the causes of leukaemia, breast cancer, and lung cancer. Another discovery was studying the relationship between cancers and hormones and the relationship between tumours and viruses. From the research on leprosy, they developed a vaccine for leprosy. Her research was instrumental in getting women to actively participate in cancer research. Cancers in women and children and their causes attracted her special attention.

Another special study she conducted was in 1989 when she commissioned an organization called Satya Niketan to collect data on malnutrition among children in the villages of Ahmednagar and bring it to the attention of the Maharashtra government. Several schemes for health care and treatment were devised and developed for women living in villages in Rajpur and Ahmednagar. The Indian Women's Association helped them for this.

Awards and recognitions

1) In 1982 she was honoured with Padma Bhushan for Medicine.

2) She received the Jubilee Research Award of the Indian Medical Council in 1964, which included a gold medal and Rs.15,000.

3) 1964 LJ Wattumul Foundation Prize in Microbiology.

4) He was selected as Emeritus Medical Scientist of Indian Council of Medical Research.

Publications

She published more than 200 papers on cancer and leprosy. In these, there were detailed studies about the possibilities of various types of cancer and the causes thereof.

Reference

https://www.thebetterindia.com/199532/india-women-in-science-kamal-ranadive-pune-cancer-research-scientist-inspiring/

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