Gagandeep Kang Is 1st Indian Woman In 360 Years To Join Royal Society

Scientist Dr Gagandeep Kang has become the first Indian woman to be inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in London. Called India's vaccine "God Mother", Dr Gagandeep Kang has joined the likes of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin to be elected to the almost 360-year-old scientific body. Dr Kang has studied MBBS at Christian Medical College in Vellore. She is currently Executive Director, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute in Haryana's Faridabad. Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan described Dr Kang's election to the Royal Society as a "proud moment for India".

Dr Kang developed an oral vaccine against the Rota virus that causes diarrhoea, a disease that kills almost 100,000 children in India.

The vaccine was first identified by researchers at the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi way back in 1985. Since then, with over $100 million in funding-- including that from the Indian government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-- it is now part of India-approved vaccines.

Speaking to NDTV earlier, Dr Roger I Glass, a noted researcher on Rota virus and Director of the Fogarty International Center, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, had said, "We cannot feel content until this Rota Virus vaccine reaches all Indian children."

On her part, Dr Kang said, "I would like to make vaccines better in Indian children."