imported>Scorpions13256: Removing from Category:20th-century Indian scientists using Cat-a-lot

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Removing from Category:20th-century Indian scientists using Cat-a-lot

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{{short description|Indian physician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
'''Suniti Solomon''' (1938 or 1939 – 28 July 2015) was an Indian [[physician]] and microbiologist who pioneered [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]] research and prevention in [[India]] after having diagnosed the first Indian AIDS cases among the [[Chennai]] sex workers in 1986 along with her student [[Sellappan Nirmala]] .<ref>{{cite web|url=https://qz.com/india/466463/the-doctor-who-detected-indias-first-hiv-case-has-died/|title=The doctor who detected India's first HIV case has died|publisher=[[Quartz (publication)|QUARTZ INDIA]]|author=Manu Balachandran| date=29 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=AIDS in India|journal = Postgraduate Medical Journal|volume = 82|issue = 971|pages = 545–547|publisher=NCBI|pmc = 2585722|year = 2006|last1 = Solomon|first1 = S.|last2 = Solomon|first2 = S. S.|last3 = Ganesh|first3 = A. K.|pmid = 16954447|doi = 10.1136/pgmj.2006.044966}}</ref> She founded the Y R Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education in Chennai. The Indian government conferred the National Women Bio-scientist Award on her.<ref name=toi>{{cite web | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Suniti-Solomon-who-woke-India-up-to-HIV-threat-dies-at-76/articleshow/48260161.cms | title=Suniti Solomon, who woke India up to HIV threat, dies at 76 | newspaper=The Times of India | date=29 July 2015 | access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref><ref name=ie>{{cite web | url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/dr-suniti-solomon-who-pioneered-hiv-research-and-treatment-in-india-passes-away/ | title=Dr Suniti Solomon, who pioneered HIV research and treatment in India, passes away | newspaper=Indian Express | first=Arun | last=Janardhanan | date=29 July 2015 | access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref><ref name=rediff>{{cite web | url=http://www.rediff.com/news/report/dr-suniti-solomon-part-of-team-who-detected-hiv-passes-away/20150728.htm | title=Dr Suniti Solomon, part of team who detected HIV, passes away | publisher=Rediff | date=28 July 2015 | access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref><ref name=huff>{{cite web | url=http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/07/28/suniti-solomon-hiv_n_7884648.html | title=Suniti Solomon, Doctor Who Awakened India To HIV, Passes Away | publisher=Huffington Post | date=28 July 2015 | access-date=29 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37183012 | title=The woman who discovered India's first HIV cases | publisher=[[BBC]] | work=Geeta Pandey | date=30 August 2016 | access-date=4 October 2017}}</ref>
On 25 January 2017, the Government of India awarded her the [[Padma Shri]] for medicine <ref>{{cite news |title=In 2017, Padma Awards to honour unsung heroes of healthcare|url=http://medicaldialogues.in/in-2017-padma-awards-to-honour-unsung-heroes-of-healthcare/ |publisher=Medical Dialogues|date=27 January 2017 }}</ref> for her contributions towards diagnosis and treatment of HIV.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://padmaawards.gov.in/PDFS/PadmaAwards-2017_25012017.pdf|title=PadmaAwards-2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129231739/http://www.padmaawards.gov.in/PDFS/PadmaAwards-2017_25012017.pdf|archive-date=29 January 2017|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Suniti Solomon (née Gaitonde), was born in a Maharashtrian Hindu family of the leather traders in Chennai. She was the seventh child in a family of eight and was the only daughter.<ref name=live/><ref name=lan>{{cite journal|author1=Jeremy Laurance|title=Suniti Solomon|url=http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2815%2900772-2/fulltext|access-date=8 November 2015|journal=The Lancet|date=7 November 2015|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00772-2|pmid=26843302|volume=386|issue=10006|page=1818|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="yrg2">{{cite web|title=About Us/Our Founder|url=http://www.yrgcare.org/about-us/our-founder/|website=YRG CARE|access-date=16 July 2016}}</ref> In a 2009 interview she said she became interested in medicine from the yearly health officer visits to their home for vaccinations.<ref name=live>{{cite news|author1=Anupama Chandrasekaran|title=Freedom to live with HIV — Suniti Solomon|url=http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/0BndFwDSQojGe71oE8lFVK/Freedom-to-live-with-HIV--Suniti-Solomon.html|access-date=8 November 2015|work=Live mint|publisher=HT Media Ltd|date=14 August 2009}}</ref>

She studied medicine at [[Madras Medical College]] and then was trained in pathology in the UK, the U.S. and Australia until 1973 when she and her husband, Victor Solomon, returned to Chennai, because "she felt her services were more needed in India." She did her doctorate in microbiology<ref name=lan/> and joined the faculty of the Institute of Microbiology in Madras Medical College afterwards.<ref name=hindu/>

==Career==
In her earlier career life abroad, Solomon had worked as a junior physician at King’s College Hospital, London.<ref name=hindu/> After returning to India, Solomon worked as a microbiologist at Madras Medical College and rose to the rank of professor.<ref name=toi/> She followed the literature about the clinical descriptions of AIDS in 1981, [[HIV#Discovery|discovery of HIV]] in 1983 and by 1986 decided to test 100 female sex workers, as India had no openly gay community. Six of the one hundred blood samples turned out to be HIV positive. Solomon later sent the samples to [[Johns Hopkins University]] in Baltimore for a retest which confirmed the result.<ref name=googlebook/><ref name="hindu">{{cite news|last1=Gaitonde|first1=Vishwas|title=Remembering Dr. Solomon|url=http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/world-aids-day-how-dr-suniti-solomons-flexibility-shaped-indias-aids-crisis/article7936732.ece|access-date=16 July 2016|work=The Hindu}}</ref> This discovery became the first HIV documentation in India.<ref name=lan/><ref name="yrg">{{cite web|title=About Us/The History|url=http://www.yrgcare.org/about-us/history/|website=YRG CARE|publisher=Y.R. Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education|access-date=16 July 2016}}</ref> Since then, Solomon decided to dedicate her life working on HIV/AIDS research, treatment, and awareness. She has described how people shunned HIV infected persons; even her husband did not want her "to work with HIV-positive patients," most of whom at that time were homosexuals, those who self-injected drugs and sex workers. Solomon replied by "you have to listen to their stories and you wouldn’t say the same thing."<ref name=live/> Solomon was one of the first people who spoke openly about HIV and the stigma along it, she once stated "what is killing people with AIDS more is the stigma and discrimination."<ref name=toi/>

From 1988 to 1993, Solomon set up the first AIDS Resource Group in India founded at the MMC and ran a variety of AIDS research and social services. The group was also the first comprehensive HIV/AIDS facility in India before any private and public sectors.<ref name=yrg/> In 1993, Solomon established the 'Y R Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education' ([[YRG Care|YRG CARE]]) after the name of her father.<ref name=hindu/> It was one of India's first places for voluntary HIV counselling and testing. As of 2015, 100 outpatients were seen there daily and 15 000 patients were on regular follow-up. The centre and her work there have been described as "significant factors in slowing the [HIV] epidemic". She also provide education to other doctors and students about HIV and its treatment.<ref name=lan/> She obtained the name of "the AIDS doctor of Chennai"<ref name=hindu/> and served as the President of the AIDS Society of India.<ref name=ie/>

Solomon also collaborated in international research studies, including a multi-country HIV/STD Prevention Trial at the US [[National Institute of Mental Health]], the [[HIV Prevention Trials Network]] run by the US [[National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases]], an NIH study of the HIV stigma in health care settings in Southern India, and a Phase III study of 6% CS GEL, a candidate microbicide of [[CONRAD (organization)]].<ref name=ie/><ref name=googlebook>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QECcAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA280|title=Preventing HIV Infection among Injecting Drug Users in High Risk Countries|access-date=26 September 2016|isbn=9780309102803|date=2006-12-20|last1=Medicine|first1=Institute of|last2=Health|first2=Board on Global}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Solomon met her husband, Victor Solomon, a cardiac surgeon, when studying medicine at Madras College. She followed his travels to the UK, US and Australia. He died in 2006. Their son Sunil Solomon is an epidemiologist at [[Johns Hopkins University]] in Baltimore. She was diagnosed with [[pancreatic cancer]] 2 months before her death on July 28, 2015, in her home in Chennai, at the age of 76.<ref name=lan/>

==Awards==
Solomon received the following awards:<ref name=rediff/>
* In 2001, award for pioneering work on HIV/AIDS by the state run medical varsity.<ref name=googlebook/>
* In 2005 a Lifetime Achievement Award for her work on HIV by Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society<ref name=googlebook/>
* In 2006, DMS (Honoris Cusa) by [[Brown University]], USA
* In 2009, 'National Women Bio-scientist Award' by the Indian ministry of science and technology.
* In 2010, Fellowship of the [[National Academy of Medical Sciences]].<ref name="List of Fellows - NAMS">{{cite web | url=http://www.nams-india.in/downloads/fellowsmembers/ZZ.pdf | title=List of Fellows - NAMS | publisher=National Academy of Medical Sciences | date=2016 | access-date=19 March 2016}}</ref>
* In 2012, 'Lifetime Achievement Award for Service on HIV/AIDS' by the state-run Dr MGR Medical University in Chennai.
* and several other awards, like the 'Mother Teresa Memorial Award' for education and humanitarian services.
*In 2017 Government of India announced "Padma Shri" award ( posthumous) for her distinguished service in the field of medicine<ref>{{cite news |title=In 2017, Padma Awards to honour unsung heroes of healthcare|url=http://medicaldialogues.in/in-2017-padma-awards-to-honour-unsung-heroes-of-healthcare/ |publisher=Medical Dialogues|date=27 January 2017 }}</ref>

==Work==
*{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Suniti|last2=Subramadam|first2=S|last3=Madanagopolan|first3=M|title=In vitro sensitivity of enteric bacteria to epicillin, chloramphenicol, ampicillin and furazolidone|journal=Current Medical Research and Opinion|date=1976|volume=4|issue=3|pages=229–232|doi=10.1185/03007997609109309|pmid=985743}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=S|last2=Kumarasamy|first2=N|last3=Jayaker Paul|first3=S A|last4=Venilla|first4=R|last5=Amairaj|first5=R E|title=Spectrum of opportunistic infections among AIDS patients in Tamil Nadu, India|journal=International Journal of STD & AIDS|date=1995|volume=6|issue=6|pages=447–9|doi=10.1177/095646249500600615|pmid=8845406|s2cid=41364414}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Kumarasamy|first1=N|last2=Solomon|first2=S|last3=Jayaker Paul|first3=S A|last4=Edwin|first4=R|last5=Sridhar|first5=S|title=Neurological manifestations in aids patients in South India|journal=Journal of Neuroimmunology|date=1995|volume=63|issue=1|page=100|doi=10.1016/0165-5728(96)80989-1|s2cid=53181197}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=S|last2=Madhaven|first2=H|last3=Biswas|first3=J|last4=Kumarasamy|first4=N|title=Blepharitis and lid ulcer as initial ocular manifestation in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients|journal=Indian Journal of Ophthalmology|date=1997|volume=45|issue=4|pages=233–234|pmid=9567019}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=S|last2=Kumarasamy|first2=N|last3=Ganesh|first3=A K|last4=Amairaj|first4=R|title=Prevalence and risk factors of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection in urban and rural areas in Tamil Nadu, India|journal=International Journal of STD & AIDS|date=1998|volume=9|issue=2|pages=98–103|doi=10.1258/0956462981921756|pmid=9506375|s2cid=24406494}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Medicine}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon, Suniti}}
[[Category:Indian women medical doctors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:HIV/AIDS activists]]
[[Category:Human trafficking in India]]
[[Category:Pancreatic cancer]]
[[Category:Indian microbiologists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the National Academy of Medical Sciences]]
[[Category:Indian women microbiologists]]
[[Category:Indian medical researchers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:Indian women medical researchers]]
[[Category:Indian women biologists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian biologists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in medicine]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Chennai]]
[[Category:Women scientists from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:20th-century women physicians]]

Suniti Solomon - Revision history

imported>Scorpions13256: Removing from Category:20th-century Indian scientists using Cat-a-lot