Gagandeep Kang
Director, Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics and Epidemiology-Global Health, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Prof. Gagandeep Kang is the first woman from India to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. She is also the first Indian woman to be elected to Fellowship of the American Academy of Microbiology and the only physician-scientist to receive the Infosys Award in Life Sciences. She received her training in medicine and microbiology at the Christian Medical College, Vellore and postdoctoral train the UK and US before returning to India to continue her work on enteric infections in children. With Indian and global collaborators, Prof. Kang has worked on the development and use of vaccines for rotaviruses, cholera and typhoid, conducting large studies to define burden, test vaccines and measure their impact. She studies the consequences of enteric infections and has shown that infections in early life impact nutrition, future growth and cognitive development. Gagandeep Kang was awarded the Infosys Prize in Life Sciences in 2016 for her contributions to understanding the natural history of rotavirus and other infectious diseases.