Sellappan Nirmala (born 1952 or 1953) is an Indian doctor who discovered the first case of HIV in India in 1986.
She had the idea of researching the virus from her mentor, Professor Suniti Solomon, in response to formal tracking of HIV in the US, which began in 1982.
The research plan involved taking around 200 samples of blood from groups suspected to be at high risk, including 80 gathered by Nirmala.
Because of a lack of testing facilities in Chennai, Solomon arranged for them to be investigated at the Christian Medical College & Hospital in Vellore, 200 kilometres (120 miles) away.
[2] Nirmala submitted her dissertation, Surveillance for Aids in Tamil Nadu, in March 1987 and later joined the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research in Chennai.