The ICMR Lala Ram Chand Kandhari Award was instituted by Prof. K.C. Kandhari, former Head of the Department of Dermatology and Venerology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in memory of his late father. The award is given to a scientist for research in the field of dermatology and sexually transmitted diseases. The award for the year 2012 is being jointly presented to Dr Gomathy Sethuraman, Additional Professor, Department of Dermatology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi for the research work on 'Vitamin D deficiency and rickets in children with congenital ichthyosis'. Dr Sethuraman has documented that children with congenital ichthyosis, especially those with pigmented (Indians) skin (type IV-VI), are at increased risk of developing vitamin D deficiency rickets. Given the increasing global prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, he has also stated that the risk may be growing for individuals with other skin types (I-III) as well. He has also defined the threshold levels of serum 25 (OH) D and parathyroid hormone for impaired bone health (rickets) in Indian children with congenital Ichthyosis. He has proved that children with congenital ichthyosis having serum levels of 25(OH)D less then equal to 8 ng-ml and parathyroid hormone greater then equal to 75 pg-ml are more prone to develop rickets, in particular autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis and epidermolytic Ichthyosis. Dr Sethuraman has published over 100 research papers in peer reviewed international and national journals.

The Dr V.N. Patwardhan Prize was instituted in 1973 by Smt. Shanta Patwardhan in memory of her husband Dr V.N. Patwardhan, former Director of the National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad. This prize is awarded to a scientist below 40 years of age for outstanding work carried out in India on fundamental, clinical or field studies in Nutritional Sciences. The award for the year 2012 is being presented to Dr K. N. Chidambara Murthy, Head, Research-Complementary and Alternate Medicine, Division of Research and Patents, M. S. Ramaiah Academy of Health and Applied Sciences, Bengaluru for the research work on 'Mechanism based evidence on prevention and inhibition of cancer by molecules of nutritional origin'. The research work carried out by Dr Murthy has demonstrated how some of the indigenous plants such as Decalepis, Withenia, Cissus quadrangularis, flax seed and popular fruits like grapes, pomegranate, orange and other citrus fruits can help in combating free radical mediated chronic diseases. Apart from demonstrating the benefits of these plants and their ingredients, he has also demonstrated the molecular mechanism on how the major marker compounds in these plants will help in prevention and management of cancer. His results demonstrated the benefit of naturally derived terpenioids (mono, di and tri), coumarins, polyphenols and phytosterols in prevention of organ specific cancers. He has also developed and optimized several in vitro and in vivo models of screening natural molecules for chronic disease prevention, that are economic and easy to perform. Dr Murthy has published over 80 papers in journals. He has also edited two books.

The Dr T. Ramachandra Rao Award was Instituted in 1985 by the children of late Dr T. Ramachandra Rao, an entomologist and malariologist, also former Director of the National Institute of Virology (ICMR), Pune. This prize is awarded to a scientist for his- her research contributions in the field of medical entomology. The award for the year 2012 is being presented to Dr Pragya Dhruv Yadav, Scientist-C, Biosafety level-4 Laboratory, ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune for the research work on 'Study of zoonotic vector-borne low-pathogenic and high-pathogenic viruses in India'. Dr Yadav has been contributing as a molecular virologist for establishing diagnostics for emerging and re-emerging highly pathogenic viruses. She studied viruses isolated from ticks and mosquitoes at genome level and generated molecular data and helped in assigning their correct placement in Bunyaviridae family. Characterization of these Bunyaviruses isolated from India specifically Umbre virus, Nairobi sheep diseases virus (NSDV) and Batai virus and hantavirus has provided the genomic data which was useful in developing PCR based diagnostic assays. NSD is an important disease of livestock's in South Africa. The wide presence of this zoonotic virus was also proven in India. Her standardized assays were useful in investigating newly emerging viral diseases in India like Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in Gujarat. CCHF virus has potential to cause very high mortality in human. The vector of this deadly disease was identified to be Hyalomma anatolicum ticks collected from domestic animals in Gujarat State. CCHF zoonosis was confirmed in India. Pteropus giganteus bat was identified as vector of Nipah virus from Siliguri, India which emphasized that probably bats have been responsible for Nipah outbreaks and human deaths in West Bengal State, India. Her findings have emphasized that it is imperative to study actively the different reservoir of infection to understand the origin of highly infectious diseases in India. Dr Yadav developed real-time (RT)-PCR and PCR based assays that diagnosed Kyasanur forest disease (KFD) virus from human, ticks and monkeys specimens in newer areas of the States of Karnataka, Tami Nadu and Kerala. She has also studied the ancestry of CCHF, KFD and dengue virus in India. Dr Yadav has published a book on biosafety and 40 papers in national and international journals.

The Dr M.K. Seshadri Prize was instituted in 1977 by Smt. Seshadri in memory of her husband. It is offered to a scientist for outstanding contributions made in the field of community medicine. The award for the year 2012 is being presented to Dr Sanjay Laxman Chauhan, Scientist-F and Head, Department of Operational Research, ICMRNational Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH), Mumbai for the Research work on 'Operational research work on reproductive health'. Dr Chauhan coordinated the development of evidence-based 'National Guidelines on prevention, management and control of reproductive tract infections (RTI) including sexually transmitted infections (STI)' and 'Operational Guidelines for programme managers and service providers for strengthening STI-RTI services'. These guidelines are being used in the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Programme under National Health Mission. He has also coordinated the development of six training modules (facilitator's guide and trainee's handouts) and training strategy for delivery of RTI-STI services by doctors, staff nurses-LHV-ANMs, and laboratory technicians. He along with his team has developed urban and rural models for delivering adolescent friendly sexual and reproductive health services integrated with the family welfare services through health posts in Mumbai and rural health facilities in Karjat block of Raigad district in the State of Maharashtra. Both the models are based on implementation research and are scaled-up in the health system by the State government. Dr Chauhan is also the Officer-in-Charge of 43 country-wide NIRRH Field Units (former HRRCs) located in various medical colleges in India. He also heads the Network Secretariat of WHO Collaborating Centres on Reproductive Health in South-East Asia Region and is also the Nodal Officer of Govt. of India's Model Rural Health Research Unit in Maharashtra. Dr Chauhan has over 40 research publications and scientific reports to his credit.