Kamal Ranadive
A baby girl was born on 8th November 1917 in Pune, India, and her name was Kamal Ranadive. During a time when women were rarely encouraged to pursue education, Ranadive would grow up to be a biomedical researcher known for her ground-breaking work on the links between certain cancers and viruses. Furthermore, she developed a vaccine that combats Mycobacterium leprae, a bacterium responsible for causing leprosy.
Kamal’s dad was a biology professor at Fergusson College and strongly influenced her interest in the field of biology. He ensured all his children, including his daughters, received an education. Amongst her siblings, Kamal was known to be the brightest.
Kamal received her Bachelor of Science in botany and zoology from Fergusson College, her Master of Science degree in cytogenetics from the Agriculture College and her doctorate in cytology from Bombay University. Having 3 academic degrees during that time, as a woman, was phenomenal and defied societal expectations of women. Furthermore, she also completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in the 1950s, where she specialized in tissue culture techniques.
Her fellowship at John Hopkins influenced her in establishing India’s very first tissue culture laboratory in the 1960s, called the Indian Cancer Research Centre (ICRC), which focused on cancer research and trained the next generation of Indian biologists. The establishment allowed her to carry out her research on the links between certain cancers and viruses, and she was the first Indian scientist to propose the theory of the link between breast cancer and heredity. The research centre is also where she developed the experimental ICRC leprosy vaccine. Additionally, she contributed to the further understanding of leukaemia, breast cancer, and esophageal cancer.
To inspire and advocate for women in STEM, Ranadive and her colleagues founded the Indian Women Scientists’ Association (IWSA) In 1973, which provided support systems that allowed women to pursue scientific careers while promoting scientific education in rural and tribal communities in India. Today, the organization has a prominent national body with over 11 chapters across India, supporting over 2,000 women scientists.
Ranadive passed away on April 11th, 2001. Her work was exceptional and led to the development of cancer research and the understanding of different types of cancers. Moreover, Ranadive also inspired many Indian women to reach for their scientific dreams!
