Rakesh Aggarwal (born 1961) is an Indian gastroenterologist, who is currently the Director of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, India. He was previously a Professor of Gastroenterology at the

Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences is a medical Institute under the State Legislature Act in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, south of Hazratganj on Raebareli Road. It was established in 1983 and is named after Sanjay Gandhi. Th ...

. Known for his studies on

Gastrointestinal disease Gastrointestinal diseases (abbrev. GI diseases or GI illnesses) refer to diseases involving the gastrointestinal tract, namely the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and rectum, and the accessory organs of digestion, the liver, ...

s, Liver diseases, and

Viral Hepatitis Viral hepatitis is liver inflammation due to a viral infection. It may present in acute form as a recent infection with relatively rapid onset, or in chronic form. The most common causes of viral hepatitis are the five unrelated hepatotropic vi ...

, Aggarwal is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies, namely

National Academy of Sciences, India The National Academy of Sciences, India, established in 1930, is the oldest science academy in India. It is located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Prof. Meghnad Saha was the founder president. Fellows *Suddhasatwa Basu * Sudha Bhattacharya * Ch ...

, the

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

and the

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Acade ...

, and of the

National Academy of Medical Sciences National Academy of Medical Sciences (India), better known by its acronym, NAMS, is a nodal agency under the Government of India, which acts as an advisory body to the Government in matters related to National Health Policy and Planning and as a ...

. The

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It ...

of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 2002.

Biography

Rakesh Aggarwal was born in 1961, and spent his childhood in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...

. After obtaining an MBBS degree in 1983 and completing his residency (with MD General Medicine) in 1986 from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, he joined the

Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) is a public medical university in Chandigarh, India. It is an 'Institute of National Importance'. It has educational, medical research, and training facilities for its studen ...

for a fellowship in

gastroenterology Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- “belly”, -énteron “intestine”, and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract ...

, obtaining his DM (Gastroenterology) degree in 1989. Thereafter, he joined the

, Lucknow (SGPGI) as a faculty member in the department of gastroenterology, where he held the position of a Professor of Gastroenterology. In between, he trained at the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

at their

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes ( jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal ...

branch during 1996-1998 doing laboratory research on

Hepatitis E Hepatitis E is inflammation of the liver caused by infection with the hepatitis E virus (HEV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Hepatitis E has mainly a fecal-oral transmission route that is similar to hepatitis A, although the viruses are unrel ...

, and at the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The inst ...

from where he obtained a masters degree in

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

in 2008. Dr. Rakesh Aggarwal joined as Director, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) in Pondicherry, India with effect from January 1, 2019. He currently resides at JIPMER, Puducherry while the last three decade of his life had been spent in the SGPGI Campus in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

Legacy

Aggarwal's work is focused in the fields of

and

hepatology Hepatology is the branch of medicine that incorporates the study of liver, gallbladder, biliary tree, and pancreas as well as management of their disorders. Although traditionally considered a sub-specialty of gastroenterology, rapid expansion ...

with special emphasis on

viral hepatitis Viral hepatitis is liver inflammation due to a viral infection. It may present in acute form as a recent infection with relatively rapid onset, or in chronic form. The most common causes of viral hepatitis are the five unrelated hepatotropic vi ...

, in particular

and

Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the '' Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. ...

, on which he has conducted research from

epidemiologic Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants In mathematics, the determinant is a scalar value that is a function of the entries of a square matrix. It characterizes some proper ...

, clinical and laboratory perspectives. He has also contributed to the areas of

health economics Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in determining how to improv ...

and

immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-se ...

. His studies have been documented by way of a number of articles and ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles has listed several of them. Besides, He has mentored several research scholars in their doctoral studies. Aggarwal has been the principal investigator of several projects funded by various Indian funding agencies. ''Biomedical Informatics Centers of ICMR'' was another project managed by him, on sponsorship from the

Indian Council of Medical Research The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world. The ICMR is funded by the Gove ...

. He sits in the Panel of experts on Gastroenterology of the

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is an Indian government ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family planning in India. The Minister of Health and Family Welfare ...

as well as the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee on Viral Hepatitis of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

and has conducted several workshops which included the ''V. S.R. Naik Memorial Workshop on Computers and Informatics in Medicine'' held in 2008 and the ''Workshop on Scientific Writing'' of the

held in September 2010. He was a member of the experts panel of SAGE Working Group on Hepatitis E from October 2013 to December 2014 and has also been associated with scientific journals as an editor.

Awards and honors

The

of the Government of India awarded him the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards in 2002. The

elected him as a fellow in 2007 and he received the elected fellowships of the

the same year. The Indian National Academy of Sciences, the third of the major Indian science academies, elected him as a fellow in 2017.

Selected bibliography

* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/rakesh.aggarwal.1/bibliography/public/

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aggarwal, Rakesh N-BIOS Prize recipients 20th-century Indian medical doctors Indian scientific authors Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India 1961 births Living people Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy Medical doctors from Chandigarh Indian gastroenterologists All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi alumni Alumni of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention people Indian medical academics Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research alumni