CMC Vellore is engaged in cutting edge research into the causes and treatment of diseases, and collaborates with hospitals and universities throughout the world. It is one of the leading contributors of medical research articles in India. There are numerous research programmes funded by national and international agencies as well as through internal resources.
It is the home of a Centre for Stem Cell Research, funded as a centre of excellence by the Indian government, the Prof. Bhooshanam V. Moses Centre for Research and Training in Evidence-Informed Healthcare and Health Policy; the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory and the Infectious Diseases Training and Research Centre.
CMC hosts many conferences and workshops and runs regular courses in research methodology, epidemiology, biostatistics and several other topics. Several CMC departments are recognised by the ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) as centres of excellence for research. For example, Hepatology (liver diseases) and Haematology (for thalessemia).
In 2014, CMC was recognised as a Centre of Excellence for Translational Research by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT). CMC is a Centre of Excellence with a collegium of five institutions for clinical research excellence. In 2017, the Clinical Epidemiology Unit was accepted as an external site for the NIH Clinical Trials Course.
Every year a number of studies, in which CMC has played a leading role, receive international attention. For example, CMC was one of three sites which conducted the Phase III clinical trial of the ROTAVAC® vaccine which was shown to be effective in preventing rotavirus gastroentiritis and other forms of diarrhoea in children.
Our first STEM woman!
Dr. Ida Scudder, the founder of CMC Vellore, was our first STEM woman, and she inspired hundreds of women to choose a life in science.
Right from the beginning, Dr. Scudder knew she needed to train women to help women, because medical help from male doctors, especially during labour and childbirth, could not be accepted owing to social taboos.
Initially she trained compounders. Formal nurse training began in 1909 and in 1918, she proudly opened the Missionary Medical School for Women, which offered the LMP (Licensed Medical Practitioner) course. In 1942 this was upgraded to a full MBBS degree course, and men were admitted from 1947 onwards.
The Nursing School became the first College of Nursing in India in 1946, and is now a WHO collaborating centre for Nursing and Midwifery. The medical college is consistently ranked among the top colleges in the country.
#womeninscience
Women Scientists at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19
Dr. Gagandeep Kang, CMC alumna and Professor in the Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences at CMC, is a leading researcher with a focus on viral infections in children, and the testing of rotaviral vaccines. She has been described as India's 'Vaccine godmother' and recently became the first Indian woman to be elected 'Fellow of the Royal Society'.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Kang has been much sought-after by the Indian media for her expert views on various issues related to the COVID-19 vaccine and has been featured in a number of TV and print interviews.
Late last year, she co-authored a book on the pandemic titled, Till we win: India’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Lancet profiles Dr. Kang (Sept 11, 2021);
Read more about Dr. Kang on the Wikipedia
Dr. Priya Abraham, CMC alumna, was Professor in the Department of Virology here when invited to be Director of the National Institute of Virology in Pune, Maharashtra. The Institute, established in 1952, is the premier institute of virology research in the country and one of the major institutes of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The invitation to Dr. Abraham to take up the reins of the institute - a recognition of her outstanding work in the field of virology - came two months before the first COVID-19 cases were reported in India, putting her in the hot seat since then.