Madhav Gajanan Deo earned his MBBS degree from Agra University (Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior) in 1955. Later he joined the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) where he obtained both MD (Pathology) and PhD under the supervision of the late Professor V Ramalingawami. He was a Professor of Pathology at the AIIMS (1974-78); Director, Cancer Research Institute (1978-95); Director, Research & Chief of Laboratories Jaslok Hospital (1997-98) and Director, SSR Centre for Medical Studies and Research, University of Mauritius (1998-2000). He was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, Visiting Professor at the University of Paris VII and a Fogarty Scholar in Residence at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, USA. He is an Emeritus Professor (Life time) of National Academy of Medical Sciences.

Academic and Research Achievements: At AIIMS, Dr Deo developed a non-human primate model of human protein energy malnutrition. His research with Professor Ramalingaswami forms the scientific basis for our National Goiter Control Programme of the universal iodization of common salt. He developed a leading indigenous anti-leprosy vaccine using the ICRC bacillus. He has discovered a novel growth modulator (enhancing factor), which is a 14 kD polypeptide from the small intestine of mice. The EF gene has now been used to produce a transgenic mouse.

Other Contributions: Deo has established, along with other scientists, the Indian Association of Cancer Research of which he was the Founder President. He has played a very crucial role in the establishment of the Moving Academy of Medicine and Biomedicine, and also developed a novel strategy of mobile workshops that take new and fast expanding frontiers knowledge to the students' doorsteps. He organized national medical students' research conferences for promoting research culture in young medicos, which, has now resulted in the establishment of the Indian Forum for Medical Students' Research (INFORMER) under his guidance. He has been an Advisor to a number of national and international organizations.

Awards and Honours: Dr Deo is a recipient of several prestigious awards, which include Amrut Mody Research Foundation Award (1972); BC Guha Lecture Award of INSA (1978); Basanti Devi Amir Chand Oration Award of ICMR (1980); Silver Jubilee Oration Award of AIIMS (1987); Om Prakash Bhasin Award (1988); Platinum Jubilee Lecture Award of Indian Science Congress Association (1988); Silver Jubilee Research Award of Medical Council of India (1989); Padma Shri Award by Government of India (1990); Rameshwardas Birla National Award (1992); Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Visiting Fellowship Award of INSA (1993) and Life Time Achievement Award by Association of Pathologist of Indian of North America, USA (2008). Besides, he is a Fellow of all prestigious National Science and Medical Academies. He was Secretary, INSA (1978-82).