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Doc with a `vision'
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Dr. Geeta Kashyap's breakthrough stem cell technique has given the gift of sight to the visually impaired, besides winning her laurels
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SHE DESPERATELY wanted to be a paediatrician, but marriage and motherhood destined something else for Geeta Kashyap Vemuganti, the charming 45-year-old head of the L.V.Prasad Eye Institute's Ophthalmic Pathology Service and Stem Cell Laboratory. But then, the unexpected shift from paediatrics to ocular ophthalmology catapulted Dr. Geeta into national recognition, which came for her outstanding research work in the use of stem cell techniques to restore vision in patients suffering from `limbal stem cell deficiency'.
During the past fortnight, she has been conferred the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, which carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh besides an annual contingency grant of Rs 3 lakh for three years to support her research activities.
Besides, she has also won the Chemtech Pharmabio award for outstanding contribution. The awards would be presented to her by President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in New Delhi shortly. With research traditionally being a male bastion, this is no mean achievement.
Thanks to her work, done along with co-principal investigator Dr. Virender Singh Sangwan, the stem cell techniques were applied to treat about 250 patients suffering from the deficiency.
About 40 of these patients were treated free of cost. The stem cell technique involves harvesting a small amount of limbal tissue from the healthy eye for transplantation into the diseased eye.
The deficiency occurs due to chemical burns, allergic reactions to drug and auto-immune diseases.
A native of Karimnagar, Dr. Geeta completed her MBBS from the JLN Medical College, Rajasthan, in 1985 and enrolled for a post-graduate course in paediatrics. "Though I was deeply interested in the course, I had to cut short my studies due to marriage and return to Hyderabad," says Dr. Geeta, whose childhood friend and husband, Ramesh, is an engineer. Although she attempted to pursue her MD in paediatrics afresh in Hyderabad, Dr. Geeta admits that the competition was too tough for her to achieve the objective, as she could not get a seat.
She then shifted to ocular pathology and joined L. V. Prasad in 1998. She commenced research on the tissue culture system to combat stem cell deficiency from August, 2000, which stretched for over 10 months. Post research, she successfully enabled its clinical application from April, 2001.
"I am delighted at the recognition, though I did not expect it. My aim behind the research was mainly to provide vision to those hundreds of people suffering from the limbal deficiency," says Dr. Geeta with all modesty.
R. BALAJI
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