Shiv Kumar Sarin is an Indian

gastroenterologist 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, ...

hepatologist 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 ...

, translational scientist, researcher and teacher. He set up the

Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences The Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) is a mono-superspeciality hospital for liver and biliary diseases located at New Delhi, India. It has been established by the Government of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi as an ...

. He is a recipient of the

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...

and the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

. He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of Medical Council of India. He was the president of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver and founder of Asian Pacific School of Hepatology.

Biography

Shiv Kumar Sarin graduated from the S.M.S.Medical College, Jaipur, in 1974, obtained his MD in internal medicine in 1978 and specialized with in gastroenterology from

AIIMS, New Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, also known as AIIMS Delhi, is a public medical research university and hospital in New Delhi, India. The institute is governed by the AIIMS Act, 1956 and operates autonomously under the M ...

in 1981. After serving as lecturer at AIIMS, he joined G B Pant hospital under the

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

, where he became the Professor and Head of Gastroenterology in 1997. He set up the

. He also serves as an Adjunct faculty of Molecular Medicine at the

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

, Delhi.

Career

Sarin's research have helped describe two major liver diseases, Portal Biliopathy and Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure. He has developed or significantly contributed to the development of several treatment protocols for liver diseases such as the band ligation to prevent variceal hemorrhage. He has worked on

gastric varices Gastric varices are dilated submucosal veins in the lining of the stomach, which can be a life-threatening cause of bleeding in the upper gastrointestinal tract. They are most commonly found in patients with portal hypertension, or elevated pr ...

, and their classification bears his name as Sarin's Classification of Gastric Varices. Seventeen major treatment protocols have been credited to him including five major Asian Pacific treatment guidelines in liver disease, and the model he proposed on "endotoxemia induced portal hypertension and liver disease" is reported to have been universally accepted. His work has assisted in the understanding of Chronic HBV Infection, liver cancer and the B and C variants of hepatitis. His studies on "acute-on-chronic liver failure" disease and its therapy using

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF or GCSF), also known as colony-stimulating factor 3 (CSF 3), is a glycoprotein that stimulates the bone marrow to produce granulocytes and stem cells and release them into the bloodstream. Functional ...

(G-CSF), a

glycoprotein Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycos ...

, have been successful in clinical trials. He has also contributed in analyzing the mother-baby transmission of

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. Fo ...

and its

pathogenesis Pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes from Greek πάθος ''pat ...

. Sarin is one of the initiators of the

vaccination program in India and one of the organizers of the "Yellow Ribbon campaign", an annual program started in 1998. It was under his chairmanship that the

Medical Council of India The Medical Council of India (MCI) was a statutory body for establishing uniform and high standards of medical education in India until its dissolution on 25 September 2020 when it was replaced by National Medical Commission. The Council grante ...

introduced the ''Vision 2015'' document which proposed guidelines for regularizing medical education in India. He has published eleven books on

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 ...

, a number of them are reference books on the subject and has contributed 69 chapters to medical texts published by others. He has written over 350 articles, published in peer-reviewed journals such as ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

'', the '' Lancet'' and ''

Annals of Internal Medicine ''Annals of Internal Medicine'' is an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world. ''Annals'' publishes content relevan ...

''. He is the founder editor of ''Hepatology International'', a

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

publication, and has mentored 90 post-doctoral and 25 doctoral students.

Positions

Sarin served as the chairman of the Board of Governors of the

, the body for medical education in India for the 2010–2011 term. He is a former president of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology, Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver (INASL) and the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) and is the chairman of the steering committee of APASL. He has been the vice-chair of the International Association for Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists (IASGO) and sat in the External Advisory Board of the Clinical Research Center of Yonsei University Severance Hospital. He is a member of the steering committees of Indo-German Science Centre for Infectious Diseases (IG-SCID) and the World Digestive Health Day (WDHD) and is a board member of the Institute of Translational Hepatology, Beijing and Asian Pacific Digestive Week Federation (APDWF), Singapore. He is also a Collaborating Investigator of the APASL-ACLF Research Consortium, a forum of the experts on ''Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure'' (ACLF) disease from the Asia Pacific region.

Awards and honors

Sarin was awarded the Japanese Research Science Award in 1986 and the Hoechst Om Prakash Memorial Award in 1987. He received the Ranbaxy Research Science Award in Medical Sciences in 1994 followed by

of the

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

(CSIR), the highest Indian award in the science category in 1996. The Association of Physicians of India (API) awarded him the ''Gifted Teacher Award'' in 1999 and Amrut Mody Unichem Award of 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 ...

(ICMR) reached him in 2003. He received the

TWAS Prize This is a list of recipients of the TWAS Prize, awarded annually by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). Summary Agricultural Sciences Biology Chemistry Earth Sciences Engineering Sciences Mathematics Medical Sc ...

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable devel ...

in 2004, the Silver Jubilee Award of the

the same year and the FICCI Award of the

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. History Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian businessman G.D. Birla an ...

in 2005. The Government of India included him in the Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of the

in 2007, the same year as he received the

Om Prakash Bhasin Award Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Science and Technology is an Indian award, instituted in 1985 to recognize excellence in the areas of science and technology. The award, given individually or collectively to a group, is annual in cycle and carries a p ...

and he received the ''Mahaveer Award'' of the Bhagwan Mahaveer Foundation in 2008. He is also a recipient of the Dhanvantri Medical Award, IEDRA Rashtriya Samman Puraskar, Lifetime Achievement Award of the Government of Delhi, Malaysia Liver Foundation Award and Vashisht Chikitsa Ratan Award of the Delhi Medical Association. Sarin, a 1988 Fogarty Fellow of the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, had been elected as its Fellow by the

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 ...

(NASI) the previous year. He is an elected fellow of several other science or medical academies such as the

American College of Gastroenterology The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) is a Bethesda, Maryland–based medical association of gastroenterologists. The association was founded in 1932 and holds annual meetings and regional postgraduate continuing education courses, est ...

(2002),

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 Academ ...

(2004),

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 ...

(2005), and

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 ...

(2005). He has delivered several award orations; Dr. Dharamveer Datta Memorial Award Oration and Dr. Kunti and Om Prakash Award Oration of the

(2004), Netaji Oration by the Association of Physicians of India (2003), Dr. V. R. Khanolkar Oration of the

(2004) and Dr. Yellapragada Subba Row Memorial Award Oration of the

(2005) are some of the notable ones.

References

External links