Dr. Soniya Nityanand, Professor and Head, Dept of Hematology, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow, did her MBBS and MD from King George's Medical College (KGMC), Lucknow. After MD she did a Ph.D in Immunology from Karolinska Institute Stockholm, Sweden. She first worked an Assistant Prof in Medicine at KGMC, Lucknow, from Oct 1991 to Nov 1993. Thereafter, she has been a faculty member at SGPGIMS from Nov 1993, initially in the Dept of Immunology and since last year in the Dept of Hematology. Dr Soniya Nityanand is a recipient of the Department of Biotechnology National Biosciences Career Award for 2003-04, Indian National Science Academy Young Scientist Award for 1990, Dr JC Patel and BC Mehta award of the Association of Physicians of India for the best case report of the year 2000, Dr NN Gupta Gold Medal for the best for Best Performance in M.D. (Medicine) and Chancellor's Medal for the best Medical Student. Her areas of research includes immune mecahnisnms in vasculopathies, especially Takayasu's arteritis, immunological basis of a aplastic anemia, mechanism of action of anli-thymocyte globulin in aplastic anemia. Her objective is to understand the pathogenesis of these diseases and develop better therapeutic strategies.
Her desire is to take the benefits of bench work to the bedside. Takayasu's arteritis is a vasculitic disorder with a prediliction for young women and peculiar to India, SE Asia and Japan. She has some noteworthy findings on its pathogenesis and treatment which have been published in International Journals of repute. She also contributed significantly to the understanding of the mechanism of action of ATG in aplastic anernia. Another noteworthy contribution of Dr Soniya Nityanand has been the successful setting up of a Bone Marrow Transplant Program at SGPGIMS, and she has performed 25 transplants till date for various hematological disorders. She is currently exploring stem cell transplantation for tissue regeneration/repair. She has also paid a pivotal role in establishing the specialty of Hematology at SGPGIMS, which was first a part of the Dept of Immunology but thereafter because of its growth and increase in the number of hematological patients has been made into a separate Department.
