A path-breaking researcher, Dr Sanghamitra Pati is a precursor in innumerable medical science areas like multi-morbidity, infectious diseases, chronic disease prevention, cancer and the like. Currently, she heads the Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, a wing of the ICMR. An inventive genius, Sanghamitra and research are wedded to each other. She follows the knowledge of research and development like a sinking star beyond the utmost horizon of human thoughts that seizes the grey matters of the brain. A medico scholar extraordinary, she had her MBBS and MD from the MKCG Medical College, Berhampur. In 2000, she received the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship to pursue Master of Public Health at the University of Maastricht, Netherland. She got the coveted American Association of University Women International Fellowship in 2002 for research into bio-social correlated of maternal mortality. After having left her debut as a faculty in different medical colleges, she joined the Public Health Foundation of India in 2010. As the Director of the ICMR’s Regional Institute at Bhubaneswar, she has been steering clear Odisha during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is a Fellow of Union for International Cancer Control and International College of Nutrition. Currently, she is a Senior Lone Visiting Fellow of the Harvard School of Public Health. Awards of research scholarships and fellowships came cascading down upon her. She has received the Asia Pacific Cancer Society Fellowship (Queensland Cancer Foundation, Australia, 2004) for school-based-teenage tobacco abuse prevention; International Society for Infectious Diseases Fellowship for Training at National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA (2005) and International Cancer Research Technology Transfer Fellowship (2006, Geneva) for studying tobacco control practice among primary care physicians. She had developed a smoking cessation skill building programme for medical students, which won her APACT Young Investigator Award in 2007 in Taiwan. She is also a recipient of early career award from International Society of Behavioural Medicine (2010, 2012) and has received Welcome Trust International Engagement Award for the year 2015-16. In appreciation of her prolific research career, she received the Aarya Women Achiever Award in 2017. She has been selected for the prestigious Samanta Chandra Sekhar Award, 2018 in Life Sciences by the Odisha Bigyan Academy. She has 175+ scientific publications which include prestigious journals like The Lancet, The Lancet Oncology, The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, PLoS One, Annals of Family Medicine, Cancer causes and control, Obesity Reviews, Cancer epidemiology, BMJ Open, BMC Health Services Research, BMC Medicine. She has co-authored two books and a few book chapters. She is a reviewer of reputed journals, namely, The Lancet Oncology, PloS One, BMC Family Practice, etc., and is an editorial board member of European Journal of Cancer Care. She is leading the sero prevalence studies on Covid in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. In an exclusive interview to The Pioneer, Dr Pati spoke to Sugyan Choudhury on the eventful contributions of RMRC, Bhubaneswar during Covid-19.
You have been very much talked-about during the pandemic owing to your efforts towards containing it. Could you please tell about your contributions in this regard?
Managing a pandemic like Covid-19 is not the job of one individual. It is the team that mattered and it is the teamwork that delivered the result. Of course, there may be leaders in such arduous tasks. You know, I am working in RMRC, Bhubaneswar, founded in the year 1981.
The very purpose of RMRC is to identify the prevailing and emerging health hazards and extend support and solution to the State Governments on evidence-based research. RMRC, Bhubaneswar, has two state-of-the-art laboratories; and first of all, we had to set up these labs with quality testing for effective diagnosis of Covid treatment protocol. Secondly, we had to conduct serological survey to access whether knowingly or unknowingly how many have been affected by Covid. When we conducted the survey, we wanted to be sure about presence of Covid-specific antibody in human body. We wanted to determine the collective immunity across the society; and that was the most important contribution of our RMRC. The monumental contribution of the RMRC was that a huge machine like COBAS-6800 with BSL-2 lab was set up around it that enabled a large number of persons to be examined without being contaminated by the highly-infectious Covid-19. This machine was early installed prior to Covid for testing of TB and used for testing of Covid later after having procured required kits. Everywhere, a lab is constructed first and then the machine is put into it, but the machine which was installed earlier here was provided with a sophisticated lab, an event that happened for the first time in the country. And here, I must thank the State Government for its support towards completion of this onerous task; a splendid example of Centre-State partnership in managing Covid. Finally, quality testing of kits coupled with seamless supply of logistics was ensured by our RMRC not only to Odisha but also to Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh ensuring uninterrupted testing all the while.
What are the areas covered within the ambit of multi-morbidity studies?
Multi-morbidity studies are close to my heart as whatever recognition I have got so far is on these studies only. Presence of two or more chronic diseases in an individual is said to be multi-morbidity. In such cases, a patient may be having diabetes with arthritis or with asthma or hypertension. In such circumstances, a physician has to take a patient-centric calibrated approach for a holistic treatment. In Covid cases, multi-morbidity patients are more at risk to the adverse outcome. This is the focus area of my research studies; and I am still pursuing it for the benefit of patients. We have to balance the intervention of treatment as it involves conflicting and contrasting situations of care and concern.
What are the focus areas of your valuable research?
I am keen on chronic diseases and am interested in the patient outcome, evidence-based policy and practice, focusing on the improvement of patients, which are my absorbing areas of research and development.
What are the areas of your memorable research contributions?
You see, I have developed a tool relating to symptoms, diagnostics and treatment of the patient taking into consideration the inordinate delay compelling the patients to go through a tortuous way after multiple consultations, i.e., an area of research close to my heart. My second contribution is burden of multi-morbidity in primary healthcare centres. And currently, I am working on impact of Covid-19 on chronic diseases.
What would be your prescription to the Government for strengthening the public health system?
Evidence-informed policymaking and evidence-based decision-making are the sine qua non for strengthening the public health system. I must humbly submit that since we have a system, the Government in its collective wisdom is well-aware of the same.
What would be your message to the people regarding a third wave of Covid-19?
If it comes, it comes in a few clusters. We have to be vigilant because a pandemic, even if on decline, may become endemic and can be viral.
Who is your inspiration behind your successful career; your parents or your life partner?
Of course, I must acknowledge my father’s contribution in this regard who taught me to be self-made and self-reliant. An ideal family atmosphere is also a strong pillar conducive for my career. Compatibility, understanding, appreciating each other have also contributed towards my achievement. Of course, my colleagues have played an important role as well.