When the pandemic hit, countries had one authority to turn to—the World Health Organisation. But it was Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the organisation’s first Indian to hold the deputy director-general position, who became the staple image for an uncertain world. In March 2019, Swaminathan took over as the inaugural chief scientist at the international health body, a fortuitous appointment just a few months before the SARS-CoV-2 virus reared its head.
From the vantage point of the highest public health authority in the world, she obtained a global perspective of the pandemic response and the communities most affected by lack of healthcare access.
She oversaw the development of vaccines, fought against the spread of disinformation, and coordinated pandemic responses between the heads of nations and her science team at WHO. The work she did during the thick of the deadly Delta variant spread, earned her a spot among Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women in 2021.
In her new role, Swaminathan became the focal point linking science with action. She appeared on regular press conferences, issuing statements for public safety to outlets around the world and clarifying the state of machinery at various points during the pandemic.
“Her calm and maturity in handling [the crisis] was valuable. She has made it [her position of chief scientist at WHO] aspirational for those who want to create an impact in health through science,” said K VijayRaghavan, the former director of National Centre for Biological Sciences, who served as the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the central government from March 2018 to April 2022.
This year, Swaminathan moved back to a calmer life in Chennai, taking over as the chairperson of MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), founded by her father MS Swaminathan, the architect of the Green Revolution.
“One thing I have learned from my own experience is that the social and economic determinants of health are probably more important than the medical support that we can give to patients,” Soumya Swaminathan said, sitting on a couch in her airy single-floor office, on a hot and humid Chennai afternoon.
“We can treat illnesses but [people] will catch them again due to environmental risk factors. This is why I would like to look at why people get sick,” she added.
As MSSRF chairperson, working to protect communities against the intersectional adverse effects of climate change, she wants to improve the quality of life at the grassroots level using sustainable natural solutions, such as increasing mangrove populations across the country to protect coastal communities from storm surges.
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Learnings from WHO, work in India
Even though Swaminathan was bringing a wealth of experience to her new role at WHO, for her, it all “felt like a dream”. “The role of the Chief Scientist was not defined. And so I found myself listening in the early days of January, sitting with my emergency colleagues, as they were getting data from China, and I was just sitting there and listening. And as it evolved, it became clear that this is a major, major threat to the world,” Swaminathan said.
Several years before her move to Geneva for her stint at the WHO, Swaminathan had already built a formidable reputation in public health — one that allowed her to shine bright, away from the achievements of her father. The famed plant geneticist led the Green Revolution in the 1960s, which modernised agricultural systems in India leading to higher yields and increased food security.
Soumya Swaminathan served as director general of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) from 2015-2017. By that time, she had 350 peer-reviewed publications to her name. After joining the WHO in October 2017 as its first Indian deputy director-general of Programmes, Swaminathan says she found it tough to be heard initially.
“Sometimes you’re at a disadvantage if you come from a developing country,” she said. “And you’re in a room full of people from mainly high-income countries. But over my career, I’ve learned how to negotiate those kinds of discussions.”
She also recounted how she would often be the only woman on the table. “Everywhere you find leadership is mostly male dominated. And so as a young woman researcher, as a scientist, there’s a challenge in making your voice be heard, your views be heard, sometimes you can be ignored, or just looked down upon. And it takes a lot of confidence and some mentorship, which I had at a critical stage of my career. My mentor was a man who actually helped me build that confidence and continue to speak even when I felt that I was being ignored in a room full of older men.”
However, with increasing awareness and more push for women in STEM globally, the situation is indeed improving, she acknowledged.
Her time at the WHO has given her a global perspective for her grassroots work in India.
She also learnt about India’s public health infrastructure when seen at a global level. “I realised that India is probably in a much better position than many other low and middle-income countries because we have a strong core of R&D and scientific institutions,” she said, adding that the pandemic gave a greater push to the country’s strong manufacturing base in terms of drugs and vaccines.
“I personally feel very, very grateful that I had that opportunity to serve in that role and contribute in my own small way,” she said.
But there is still a need for improvement in primary healthcare. “And I think that is what Ayushman Bharat is trying to do by focusing on building health and wellness centres,” she said, explaining this would help prepare for future pandemics. She also stressed on the importance of supporting frontline workers.
But her focus now is on frontline workers of a different kind—women burdened by both social and economic poverty at the forefront of global warming and climate change.
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Building bridges
With a plant geneticist as her father and educationist Mina Swaminathan as her mother, Swaminathan was inculcated into the scientific culture and way of thinking at an early age. Living among academics and visiting her father’s labs and fields as a child drew Swaminathan towards research. Animals were her first love.
“When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I spent some holidays with our family veterinarian learning how to give injections to dogs,” she recollected. “It was very fascinating.”
She pursued an MBBS degree, graduating in 1980. But it was during her third year at the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune that she realised she loved paediatrics.
“I love being around children. Their innocence gives you a lot of energy,” said Swaminathan, who got an MD in paediatrics from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi in 1985.
Her initial work in India, the UK and the US focused on improving neonatal healthcare.
But Swaminathan wanted to go back to research, and in 1992, she joined the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis in Chennai, eventually serving as its director from 2012 to 2015.
“Tuberculosis was and is one of our biggest public health problems.” she said.
Swaminathan understands that scientists and policy makers need to work together to break down the science, navigate the corridors of power, and translate it into policy. It has to become a programme, “then only does it start to impact millions of people.”
Her influential work on TB and HIV received global recognition. She was among the pioneers for molecular diagnostics for TB surveillance, and integrating immunological and bacteriological data with clinical and epidemiological data.
“Many excellent laboratory scientists working on tuberculosis have little public health connect,” explained VijayRaghavan.
By 2017, Swaminathan was the director general of ICMR and secretary, Department of Health Research (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare), where she was widely praised for building bridges between labs, healthcare system, and education.
“At ICMR, she took on the complex task of steering its many laboratories in the path to internal modernisation and increased connection with the health system and medical colleges,” said VijayRaghavan.
Swaminathan describes her medical journey in India as that of a discovery—engagement was not limited to policy makers and politicians, but also communities, especially those affected by adverse health and lack of good medical infrastructure.
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Future at MSSRF
The MSSRF was set up in 1988 as a link between science and society, and has worked extensively in promoting sustainable rural-agriculture development through methods such as bettering soil health and creating environmental jobs for women from poor and marginalised communities. The institution has always identified as “pro-nature, pro-poor, pro-women,” Swaminathan said.
Her office occupies one corner of the octagonal-shaped, 35-year-old MSSRF headquarters. Its walls are filled with infographics and posters of various projects and policies that the foundation has been involved in.
MSSRF, with its headquarters in Chennai and field locations across the country, works at the intersection of climate change, agriculture, and health. Swaminathan sees it as an opportunity to manage resources and protect biodiversity without affecting the people.
“I was the first person to join MSSRF and I have known Soumya for over 35 years,” recalled Dr N Parasuraman, archivist and knowledge manager at the foundation. Parasuraman said that the people at the foundation — both young scientists as well as those at the grassroots — are very happy to work with Soumya.
“I’m really happy to have the opportunity to work with her. She carries on her father’s generous legacy. I have worked with him for over three decades, and she is his carbon-copy,” he said.
In a few months under Swaminathan’s leadership, the foundation has moved rapidly toward implementing its projects.
“It’s clear that everything is interdependent and interlinked. If we have a degraded landscape and environment, we can’t be healthy,” Swaminathan said.
Successful projects run by the foundation include promoting biodiversity in identified agri-diverse locations, climate change data monitoring, and improving on gender-based issues in sustainable development initiatives.
“We’ve achieved a lot, but obviously there’s still so much more to do,” Swaminathan said.
(Edited by Prashant)