SRINAGAR: A Kashmir-born doctor Anil Koul has received this year’s American Chemical Society’s (ACS) ‘Heroes of Chemistry Award’ for the discovery of Bedaquiline (BDQ).
The other members of his team who were recognized for this contribution are Dr Koen Andries and Dr Jerome Guillemont.
BDQ is the first treatment discovered in more than 40 years for drug resistant-TB and till date has been accessed by about 210,000 patients in 141 countries.
ACS is a one of America’s biggest non-profit organization chartered by the US Congress and this award recognizes scientists whose innovative work lead to products that benefit the world.
Honored by American Chemical Society for discovery of Bedaquiline (BDQ) for TB treatment. BDQ accessed in 141 countries. ACS nonprofit org chartered by U.S. congress https://t.co/WkXpLBP3AK@lshtm @rameshmashelkar @CSIR_IND @vijai63 @shekhar_mande @kvijayraghavan @LSHTM https://t.co/xYOx5OoUhm
— Anil Koul (@anil_koul1) November 20, 2020
This award for him is actually a recognition to the outstanding work of his fantastic team of scientists at J&J, along with some of our amazing external collaborators/partners as well as number TB patients and doctors who made this a great success story
Dr Koul was born in Bana Mohalla, Srinagar, Kashmir in the year 1972 and finished his school (Hindu High school) in the valley itself.
His mother was a teacher by profession. He was lately appointed director of India’s prestigious Research Institute, Institute of Microbial Technology (IMtech) at Chandigarh, which is part of the council of scientific and industrial research (CSIR), Government of India.
Currently, Dr Anil heads, global public health discovery research at J&J and is also a professor at the London school of hygiene and tropical medicine.
