Dr. Soumya
SWAMINATHAN

Dr Soumya Swaminathan is co-chair of Our Common Air, along with Rt Hon Helen Clark. It is a global commission with 16 powerful leaders as commissioners catalyzing collective action on clean air. She is a pediatrician and global expert in tuberculosis and HIV research. She was the first Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO) and earlier served as Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research. Since 2023, she has chaired the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and is Principal Advisor to India’s National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme.

With over four decades of experience, she has worked to translate scientific evidence into global health programmes. As Secretary for Health Research, she strengthened research capacity, advanced evidence-based policymaking, and built global health partnerships.

Her academic training spans India and the UK. She has authored over 480 peer-reviewed publications and is a Fellow of the US National Academy of Medicine, the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, and Indian science academies. She holds honorary doctorates from Karolinska Institute, EPFL Lausanne, and McGill University, and is an adjunct professor at Karolinska University and Tufts University.

Dr. Swaminathan serves on the boards of Alliance Bioversity, Population Foundation of India, IGES, and WomenLift Health, and is part of the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission and the One Health and Climate Change Strategic Committee. As WHO’s Chief Scientist, she established Science Division and played a role in global COVID-19 efforts, including COVAX. Her biography, At The Wheel of Research, was published in 2024.