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The Dr Vidya Sagar Award was instituted in 1985 by faculty of the Department
of Psychiatry, PGIMER, Chandigarh, in memory of Dr Vidya Sagar, former
Professor of Psychiatry, Medical College, Rohtak. It is awarded to an eminent
scientist for the outstanding contributions made in the field of mental health.
The award for the year 2012 is being presented to Dr Ritushree Kukreti,
Principal Scientist, Genomics and Molecular Medicine, CSIR-Institute of
Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi for the research work on 'Genetic
basis of variable drug response for complex brain diseases'.
The research work carried out by Dr Kukreti has expanded the knowledge
base of pharmacogenomics in India, providing data about epidemiology,
disease susceptibility and treatment efficacy. She initially started working
to understand the molecular basis of complex diseases, with a goal towards
personalized medicine. Her group has identified genetic contribution of CYP1A1
& MRP2 variants in treatment outcome of epilepsy patients speculating for
altered drug response phenotype by modulating the 17Beta-estradiol (E2) levels as
higher E2 levels has been shown to be a pro-convulsant and CYP1A1 is known
to be involved in estrogen disposition and MRP2 is known to transport E2.
Further, correlation among CYP1A1 and MRP2 expression, E2 levels and seizure
frequency is being studied for therapeutic intervention in epilepsy.
Dr Kukreti currently is member of Steering Committee of Asian Network
for Pharmacogenomics Research, Member of the National Academy of
Medical Sciences (NAMS), New Delhi and the National Academy of Sciences,
India, Allahabad. She has published over 55 research papers in national and
international journals.