POPxo Power Women List 2022: Dr Gagandeep Kang, The Expert Who Bolstered India’s COVID-19 Response

The ‘Godmother Of India’s Vaccines

Hailed as the ‘Godmother of India’s vaccines’, Dr Gagandeep Kang’s contribution to the medical field and vaccinology remains unparalleled. A world-renowned expert in vaccines and viral infections, Dr Kang has extensively researched the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, she co-authored a book titled, Till We Win: India’s Fight Against The Covid-19 Pandemic. It offered insights into India’s fight against the pandemic and became an instant bestseller. A member of the WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, she bolstered India’s COVID-19 response with crucial observations. She was one of the first researchers to posit that COVID-19 would eventually attain an endemic status. 

In 2019, she became the first Indian woman scientist to be inducted into the Royal Society of London. She is also a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology. Dr Kang teaches Microbiology in the Department of Gastrointestinal Sciences at the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, Southern India. Additionally, she has been directing the institute’s Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory. Rotavirus vaccine work has been a central part of her career and remains her priority at the lab.

Power Move

In the past two years, Dr Kang has studied the coronavirus and its evolution. Her insights have played a pivotal role in India’s COVID-19 mitigation strategies and vaccination drive. In September 2021, she predicted that the third wave of COVID-19 would not be as devastating as the second wave. It eventually proved to be true and gave India a direction to work for its COVID-19 response. 

Having researched enteric disease for over three decades now, Dr Kang has a broad perspective on the health challenges confronted by India. She has helped the country navigate three waves of the pandemic and proved to be the hero we needed in these dark times.

The POPxo Power Women List is an annual list that celebrates incredible Indian women from diverse domains who make power moves that have a real impact. With The POPxo Power Women List 2022, we celebrate 22 phenomenal women. To see the entire list, click here.