Renowned genetic medicine specialist, Padma Shri awardee Dr IC Verma no more

New Delhi: Padma Shri awardee Dr Ishwar Chander Verma, a renowned specialist and pioneer in the field of Genetics has unfortunately passed away on Friday. He was widely respected in the medical community across the globe for his remarkable accomplishments.

Dr Verma was the Advisor and Ex-Chairman at the Institute of Medical Genetics and Genomics at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. He was the only doctor from Delhi to feature in the list of Padma awardees in 2023. He was conferred with the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian honour in the country for his contribution and dedication towards Genetic medicine on Republic Day last year.

He also served as an adviser in genetics to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, and to Roche Genetics in Basel. He was an Ex-Vice-chairman of the Ethics Committee of the International Human Genome Organization (HUGO).

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His passion for research, dedication to his patients, and commitment to global healthcare make him a respected and influential figure in the field of genetic medicine.

Dr Verma worked in medicine in East Africa for one and a half years and then went to England to obtain training in paediatrics and genetics. From 1967 till 1996, he worked at AlIMS where he established himself as a professor of pediatrics and the head of the genetic department. Later, this unit got recognition as a WHO collaborating centre in genetics for creditable performance. After AIIMS, he joined Sir Ganga Ram Hospital as the head of the department of genetic medicine.

He received genetics training at Children’s Hospital in Zurich, which falls under the University of Zurich, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA, and National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. 

In condolences over his passing, Dr D S Rana, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital told Medical Dialogues, "Sir Ganga Ram Hospital is sad beyond words to learn of the demise of Prof Verma, whom we all knew and his contribution for over 4 decades as a teacher and as a Senior colleague. His scholarship and intellectual acuity impressed everyone who was privileged to have interacted with him. Hospital considers blessed to have learned from his wisdom. His contribution to building the Department of Genetics and Genomics at SGRH is a saga of success, hard work and great vision, which surely shall endure for generations to come."

"His passing has left a huge void in SGRH which shall keep reminding us of his invaluable role in building our alma mater. A lasting tribute to his memory will be to continue cherishing his ideals and to inculcate his no-nonsense approach to research with honesty and integrity. Our respectful homage to the departed soul.. We express our heartfelt condolences to Dr Kusum Verma, his wife and the other members of the family in this hour of grief," added Dr Rana. 

"He was a stalwart and considered to be father in the field of Genetics across Globe," said the media representative of the hospital. 

Dr Verma received several national awards – the FRCP Fellowship, Ranbaxy Science Award, ICMR, NAMS and BC Roy Medical Council award.

In 2003, he made a successful entry in the LIMCA Book of Records as a pioneer in genetics in India. He has vast experience in genetic counselling, serving about 2000 cases with genetic problems every year, and bringing the benefits of genetics and genomics to large number of patients.

To deliver his knowledge worldwide, Dr Verma imparted training in many national and international healthcare organisations. For the past two decades, Dr Verma has been a member of the advisory body of the World Health Organisation Committee of Genetic Disorder and headed the Indian Society of Human Genetics.

His clinical and research interests were in the management of fetal medicine and reproductive genetics, dysmorphology, genetic counselling and prenatal diagnosis using molecular, cytogenetic and biochemical techniques. 

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