Suhas Chandra Sanyal obtained MBBS (1966), and did his PhD (1969) from Calcutta University while working at CSIR-WHO International Reference Centre for Vibrios, Indian Institute of Experimental Medicine, Kolkata. Subsequently, he worked as Assistant Professor (1970) and Professor and Head (1979), Department of Microbiology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He obtained his MD from BHU in 1974, FAMS in 1984 and FRC Path (London) in 1992. While at BHU, he was Visiting Scientist/Professor at several international institutes/laboratories. In 1992, he moved to Kuwait as Chairman and Director of Laboratory Medicine and Senior Consultant Microbiologist of Specialized hospitals and retired from there in 2002. He was Senior Consultant Microbiologist at the 1000-bedded University hospital at BHU and was intensely involved in clinical work while in Kuwait.

Academic and Research Achievements: Sanyal had made outstanding contributions in medical microbiology involving infection control and antimicrobial technology. He had studied enterotoxins and their modes of action, epidemiological importance of diarrheal agents, genetics of toxin synthesis in pathogenic enteric bacteria, live oral cholera vaccine and Nag Vibrio toxin. He also worked on aspects related to immunity generated in acute enteric infections and studied prospects of preparing remedial vaccines. Sanyal taught clinical microbiology to undergraduate and postgraduate students (including MRC Path students) both as Faculty Member at BHU and at Kuwait University. He published more than 200 original research papers and guided 14 PhD students.

Other Contributions: In 1975, Sanyal established an Enteric Infection Unit in BHU to conduct research on important aspects of health problems in different communities (rural, urban and slum) and hospitals with an interdisciplinary approach. He served as President, Asia-Pacific Section, International Society on Toxicology and the Association of Microbiologists of India. He was founder Member of the International Working Group on Vibrios and served on the Advisory and Editorial boards of a number of journals.

Awards and Honours: Professor Sanyal was conferred the Shakuntala-Amirchand Award by the Indian Council of Medical Research (1970), Dr SC Agarwal Award by the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists (1989), Ranbaxy International Research Award in Medical Sciences (1991), VR Kanolkar Oration Award by the National Academy of Medical Sciences, India (1992), Dr Bashambarnath Chopra Oration Award by INSA (1992) and Best Original Article Award by the Journal of Kuwait Medical Association (1996). He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine, Royal College of Pathologists, International Academy of Medical Sciences, National Academy of Medical Sciences, and Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore.