Sujit kumar Bhattachrya obtained MBBS and MC (General Medicine) from the University of Calcutta and joined the National Institute of Cholera and enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata as Research Officer, where he worked on Acute Diarrheal Diseases from 1980 to 1994. During this period he also worked on HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. In 1994 he was selected as Director of the NICED. He also worked on Leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar) while holding as Director Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, as an additional charge.

Academic and Research Achievements: At NICED Bhattacharya worked on clinical and microbiological aspects of Acute Diarrheal Diseases for about 26 years. His main contributions include identification and elucidation of the clinical features of a novel strain of Vibrio cholera 0139. He, with his colleagues, traced the spread of the organism in India. Based on his finding the new strain was also recognized as a causative agent of Cholera and was notified. He found out the risk factors of life threatening diarrhea which helped to devise proper treatment and prevention methods. He and his colleagues conducted the field trials of Vi-polysaccharide typhoid vaccine and Oral Heat Killed Cholera vaccine without B-subunit in the slums of Kolkata. He also conducted a number of clinical trials, such as Measles Aerosol Vaccine, Rotavirus vaccine, IMTECH-NICED-IICB oral recombinant cholera vaccine and for the treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis Phase 3 and 4 Miltefosine and Phase 3 Paromomycin (RMRI, Patna). He has contributed to developing strategies for elimination of Kala-Azar from the Indian Subcontinent.

Other Contributions: Dr Bhattacharya was instrumental in expanding the infrastructural facilities in both NICED and RMRI. As a result RMRI was recognized as a WHO center for Kala-Azar research. He was a sectional President (Medical) of the Indian National Science Congress (2005). He is a member of many WHO committees in Geneva and SEARO.

Awards and Honours: Sujit Kumar Bhattacharya received Ranbaxy Science Foundation Award in 2000 for excellence in clinical research. He delivered the Alister Iron side Memorial Oration at the University of North Manchester, UK in 1997. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad, Academy of Medical Sciences and the West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology.