Dilip Mahalanabis

Dilip Mahalanabis (born November 12th, 1934^[1]) is an India biologist. He was the director of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (the ICDDR,B) during the 1970s (at the time of the Bangladesh War). The Centre claims credit for discovering, during the time of Mahalanabis, inexpensive methods oral rehydration therapy (ORT) for the treatment of diarrhea and cholera. The 2006 Prince Mahidol Prize was awarded jointly to Dr. Richard A. Cash of Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. David Nalin and Dr. Mahalanabis.^[2] Oral rehydration therapy is an alternative to intravenous rehydration therapy where IVT is not available or feasible. Oral rehydration therapy is calculated by the World Health Organization to have saved the lives of over 60 million persons, and it is still saving millions of people from diarrhea. Dilip Mahalanabis started his own work on oral rehydration therapy in 1966 as a research investigator for Medical Research and Training in Calcutta.

At present, Mahalanabis lives with his wife, Dr. Jayanti Mahalanabis (a high energy physics researcher), in Kolkata, India (Calcutta) and holds the post of Director of Society for Applied Studies (a public post), Kolkata.

In 1994 Mahalanabis was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Awards

• Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis received the Pollin Prize for 2002.^[3]
• Dr. Dilip Mahalanabis received the 2006 Prince Mahidol Award (Thailand) (in January 2007) jointly with Drs. Richard A. Cash of HSPH and Dr. David Nalin.^[4]
• International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh was awarded the Gates Award for Global Health in 2001 (the first time that Award was offered).

References

1. ^ (in swe) Kungl. vetenskapsakademien – Matrikel 1998/1999. Stockholm: Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien. 1998. p. 84. ISSN 0302-6558. 
2. ^ http://www.ryt9.com/es/ryt9m/50430/ NOTE that the TEXT of the Mahidol Award ceremony of January 2007 notes that the Mahalanabis contribution is for the application of ORT.
3. ^ http://202.136.7.26/pub/publication.jsp?classificationID=3&pubID=3868
4. ^ http://www.ryt9.com/es/ryt9m/50430/

Further reading

• ICDDR,B
• http://en.scientificcommons.org/dilip_mahalanabis
• Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of the efficacy of treatment with zinc or vitamin A in infants and young children with severe acute lower respiratory infection
• "A Simple Solution" by Andrea Gerlin, Time magazine article about ICDDR
• Long-Term Oral Supplementation with Iron Is Not Harmful for Young Children in a Poor Community of Bangladesh
• A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of the Bivalent Killed, Whole-Cell, Oral Cholera Vaccine in Adults and Children in a Cholera Endemic Area in Kolkata, India

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Name	Mahalanabis, Dilip
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Date of birth	1934
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