Debunking myths during the pandemic to putting her foot down on dengue vaccine

Through all the uncertainties, what kept Swaminathan going was her faith in science. “In the face of opposition, stick to science. Have faith in your findings and defend them. Luckily, there was science to fall back on. Ultimately it was science that saved us,” she is quoted as saying in At The Wheel Of Research, a soon-to-be-released biography of the senior scientist authored by Anuradha Mascarenhas, Senior Editor with The Indian Express. The book provides insights into the life of the  acclaimed researcher who emerged as one of the most trusted scientific voices in the world. So whether it was taking to social media to address doubts related to vaccines to fight Covid-19, debunking conspiracy theories, or personally writing to a Bollywood celebrity asking for a tweet to be taken down, she patiently worked to fight fake news and misinformation during the pandemic.

The eldest of three daughters born to Dr M S Swaminathan, the ‘Father of the Green Revolution’, and educationist Mina Swaminathan, Dr Soumya Swaminathan earned her MBBS from Pune’s Armed Forces Medical College and MD from AIIMS, Delhi. She then moved to the US for a postdoctoral medical fellowship in neonatology and paediatric pulmonology. Dr Swaminathan would later join ICMR’s National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), where she researched extensively on pulmonary physiology and pathology in children. She would go on to do pioneering work in HIV and TB, winning accolades for her research contributions. In August 2015, she became the second woman Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, the apex body in the country for medical research.

As DG-ICMR, Dr Swaminathan was caught in a raging debate in 2015 over a prospective dengue vaccine. That year, as dengue cases rose, she was under tremendous pressure from some officials to introduce Dengvaxia, the first licensed dengue vaccine developed by French company Sanofi Pasteur.

Dr Swaminathan backed an expert committee that had serious concerns about the vaccine and, despite pressure from several quarters, stood her ground. India never approved Dengvaxia – a call that would in hindsight prove to be prescient as the vaccine ran into a controversy in the Philippines, where it was banned in 2017. The book mentions how a relieved Dr Swaminathan wrote an email to her colleagues in the ICMR and the health ministry, saying, “Thank God for the systems that were in place. We must respect our institutional systems and mechanisms and listen to scientific opinion.”

Dr Swaminathan also understood how vital it was to explain technical details to policy makers. The book talks about an episode when her intervention proved crucial. As DG-ICMR, she was aware of how key files often get stuck with government departments, endlessly awaiting approval. One such file pertained to funding at the Pune-based ICMR-National Institute of Virology’s Biosafety level 4 facility. Aware of how critical the facility was, Dr Swaminathan decided to meet the then finance secretary to explain the role of the laboratory that was capable of detection and research on viruses and dangerous pathogens. Dr Swaminathan managed to convince the bureaucrat, who went on to clear the file. Needless to say, the laboratory ended up as one of the most prized assets in the country during Covid-19, when it was tasked with the isolation and genomic sequencing of the SARS-CoV2 virus and its variants.

In December 2017, when she was offered the post of Director General at WHO, after which she transitioned into the role of WHO’s first Chief Scientist, Dr Swaminathan accepted it “reluctantly” since she thought she had many more tasks to accomplish at ICMR, but looking back, she is glad she took up the new role. “The opportunity it provided me to put to best use all of my skills during an emergency is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” the book quotes her as saying.

Late in 2022, just as the world was recovering from the pandemic, Dr Swaminathan left WHO. In the book, she talks about how the learnings from the pandemic should be utilised to tackle other diseases while providing a comprehensive overview of why adopting a planetary health approach is the only way forward. Now back in India, another new chapter unfolds for Dr Swaminathan, who heads the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation and works on her father’s vision of interlinking agriculture, nutrition and health.