The Dr Prem Nath Wahi Award was instituted in 1990 by late Dr P.N. Wahi, former Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research for significant contributions made by a scientist in the field of Basic and/or Clinical Cytology and-or Preventive Oncology. The award for the year 2011 is being jointly presented to Dr Sunita Saxena, Director, ICMR-National Institute of Pathology (ICMR), New Delhi for the research work on 'Genetic epidemiology and molecular carcinogenesis of tobacco associated cancers in North East region'. Dr Saxena is currently engaged in understanding molecular biology of tobacco associated cancers in North East (NE) region especially esophageal cancer and breast cancer. She has shown that molecular pathogenesis of esophageal cancer in high risk zone is different from low risk zone and identified molecular factors associated with familial clustering of this cancer in NE region. She has identified xenobiotic metabolism genes GST& EPHX1 and BRCA2 genes as significant risk factors for esophageal cancer which can be used for screening. The neuropeptidase Y and MAPK activity gene FGF12 and cytokeratin gene KRT4 may serve as important prognostic factors for both familial and non-familial esophageal cancer. Epigenetic studies demonstrated the role of PRMT1 and KAT8 genes in transition of low grade to high grade tumor formation and four genes TAC3, SERPINA4, TNFSF13B and IL22RA2 which encode circulatory proteins can serve as non-invasive biomarker for early detection as well as for chemotherapeutic efficacy assessment in esophageal cancer. She demonstrated betel quid chewing as significant and independent risk factor for breast cancer in NE region. In breast cancer she has established two breast cancer cell lines from primary tumors of young breast cancer patients to act as a tool to delineate the molecular carcinogenesis. Since most of the patients come to the hospital at advanced stage not amenable for surgery, she has been searching for biomarkers that predict response to neo adjuvant therapy and had shown that androgen receptor can act as an independent predictor for response to neo adjuvant therapy. Dr Saxena is recipient of Yamigawa-Yoshida Fellowship of UICC, and Novartis Oration award of ICMR and K.C. Basu Mullick award. She is also Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and Indian College of Pathologists. She has published over 100 papers in national and international peer reviewed journals.

The Dr M.O. T. Iyengar Memorial Award was instituted in 1983 by Smt. Rukmani Iyengar to honour a scientist for carrying out research in the field of malaria, filariasis, plague or medical entomology. The award for the year 2011 is being presented to Dr Neena Valecha, Scientist G & Director, ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi for the research work on 'Operational research related to diagnosis and treatment of malaria'. Dr Valecha initiated model of nation wide sentinel system with National Vector Born Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) for monitoring of resistance across the country. Dr Valecha started programme for pharmacovigilance of anti-malarial medicines. Artemisinin monotherapy was banned in India on the evidence generated by her. She spearheaded the good clinical practice trials for malaria in India. Clinical trials conducted by Dr Valecha led to the introduction of antimalarials like alphabeta arteether in the national malaria control programme, the registration of a novel antimalarial bulaquine, fixed dose combinations artesunate mefloquine, artesunate amodiaquine, DHA piperaquine and arterolane piperaquine. In the field of malaria diagnostics, her work on evaluation led to the introduction of rapid diagnostic tests. She also introduced the quality assurance system of rapid diagnostic tests, and linked the laboratories to WHO. Dr Valecha has also been a lead investigator in mapping of efficacy of artemisin based combination therapy being used in the country, studies on treatment and prevention of malaria in pregnancy and disease burden of malaria in the country. She represents India in the Malaria Policy Advisory Committee of the Global Malaria Programme of the WHO, as also on the Technical Expert Group of WHO Treatment Guidelines for Malaria, Scientific Advisory Committee of the Worldwide Anti-malaria Resistant Network, Executive Committee of the Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium, etc. At the national level, Dr Valecha is the member of various committees such as the Core Committee to Develop the National List of Essential Medicines, Committee for Good Laboratory Practices of the Department of Science and Technology, In vitro Diagnostic Device Advisory Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), NVBDCP's Expert Group on Chemotherapy, etc. Dr Valecha is a Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. She has published over 100 papers in national and international journals and also received various awards for her contributions to malaria research.

The Dr D.N. Prasad Memorial Oration Award was instituted in 1991 by Dr G.V. Satyavati, former Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research. This prize is awarded to an Indian scientist for work in the field of pharmacology. The award for the year 2011 is being presented to Dr Shyam S. Sharma, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Mohali, for the research work on 'Elucidation of involvement of peroxynitrite - PARP pathway in diabetic neuropathy using pharmacological approach'. Prof. Sharma's research demonstrated the involvement of oxidative- nitrosative stress and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) pathway in diabetic neuropathy (DN). He evaluated the potential of pharmacological interventions targeted at oxidative/nitrosative stress and PARP in experimental DN. Neuroprotective effect of these interventions was associated with improvement in motor nerve conduction velocity & nerve blood flow and reduction in nociception, oxidative stress, NAD plus depletion and apoptosis. To prove the effect of simultaneous inhibition of nitrosative stress - PARP pathways, the effect of combination of a peroxynitrite decomposition catalyst (PDC), and a PARP inhibitor was investigated in DN. Enhanced neuroprotection was observed with combining these two interventions. Overall his findings provided a better insight into the role played by oxidative/nitrosative stress-PARP cascade in the development of various biochemical deficits and nerve dysfunctions in diabetic neuropathy and suggested that simultaneous targeting of these pathways can offer a good approach for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. Prof. Sharma is recipient of ICMR Shakuntala Amir Chand Prize 2006, OPPI Scientist Award 2012, CDRI Oration Award & PP Suryakumari Prize of Indian Pharmacological Society. He is a Fellow of the Indian Pharmacological Society. Dr Sharma has more than 100 publications in national and international journals.

The Dr B.R. Ambedkar Centenary Award for excellence in biomedical research was instituted in the year 1991-92 as part of the Dr Ambedkar Birth Centenary Celebrations. It is awarded to a scientist for excellence in any field of biomedical research. The award for the year 2011 is being jointly presented to Prof. N.K. Mehra, Professor & Head, Department of Transplant Immunology and Immunogenetics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. Prof Mehra is the former Dean (Research) of the AIIMS, New Delhi and currently serves as the Dr C. G. Pandit National Chair. Prof. Mehra established the specialty of Transplant Immunology and Clinical Immunogenetics in India, a world-class facility in the leading medical institution of the country. He has made several seminal contributions on the immunogenetic aspects of mycobacterial, autoimmune and rheumatologic diseases leading to a better understanding of their molecular basis of susceptibility. He provided evidence to suggest that specific major histocompatibility complex (MHC) phenotypes play a critical role in the development of infection in drug resistant forms of pulmonary TB by inducing anergy-unresponsiveness to Mycobacterium tuberculosis leading to spurt in bacillary population similar to the situation in lepromatous leprosy. He launched a major program in molecular medicine and HIV research with focus on studying genetic polymorphism on a host of immunomodulatory genes. Further his group successfully defined immune mediators in organ and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and demonstrated that development of not only donor specific anti human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies, but those directed against non HLA targets like the MICA on endothelial cells have an overriding influence on renal allograft survival. His studies on the genome diversity of HLA led to the discovery of several novel HLA alleles and unique haplotypes in the Indian population and this information is important for the 'Asian Indian Donor Marrow Registry (AIDMR)', that he established in India and which has proved valuable in the area of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Prof. Mehra is a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences India, Allahabad and 'member honoris causa' of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He has published more than 450 research papers in national and international journals.