U. C. Chaturvedi

Umesh Chandra Chaturvedi (2 Mar 1939 – 28 Dec 2021) was an Indian virologist, immunologist, medical microbiologist, CSIR Emeritus Scientist and a former chairman of the Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation.

He spent the rest of his regular career at KGMU till his superannuation in 1999 during which time he rose through ranks holding the positions of a lecturer (1964–65 and 1967), reader (1967–84) and a professor (1984–99).

Subsequently, he chaired Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation,[10] (BIBCOL) a Government of India undertaking involved in the manufacture of oral Polio vaccines, Zinc tablets and kits for the management of Diarrhea.

[6] The human disorders he covered included chromium toxicity, immunological cardiac injury and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and it was during this time, he demonstrated that T-lymphocytes could inflict damage on heart tissues thereby leading to post-myocardial infarction and the postpericardiotomy syndrome.

[6] He developed an in-vitro model for testing metal toxicity and prescribed pre-treatment protocols using chromium picolinate which countered the incidence of thrombocytopenia induced by the virus.

[30][31] On the academic front, he was the founder head of the Department of Microbiology at King George Medical College[32] and his contributions have been reported in the establishment of a viral diagnostic laboratory at Aligarh Muslim University.

[34] He has been a member of the Task Force on Infectious Disease Biology of the Department of Biotechnology[35] and represented India in the General Assembly of the International Federation of Tropical Medicine during 1984–85.

[10] Chaturvedi received the Shakuntala Amirchand Prize for the young scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research in 1969; ICMR honored him again a decade later with the 1979 J.