Viswanathan Mohan earned his MD and Ph.D. from the Madras University and D.Sc. degree from the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University. He worked as a Research Associate at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School and Hammersmith Hospital, London (1984-85) and the University of Ulm, W. Germany (1985-86). Back in India, Mohan joined the Diabetes Research Centre at Royapuram. In 1991, Mohan started the Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre and in 1996 the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation.
Academic research achievements: Mohan’s earlier work has been on the Fibrocalculous Pancreatic Diabetes (FCPD) where he carried out the first long term follow up studies and described its epidemiology and natural history. He also proposed the first set of criteria for Fibrocalculous Pancreatic Diabetes which later came to be known as ‘Mohan’s Criteria for FCPD’. In 1996, Mohan moved on to study the epidemiology of diabetes in India where he has carried out some of the best epidemiological studies on diabetes in India. His current epidemiological studies include the ICMR – INDIAB Study, one of the largest epidemiological studies in the world with a representative sample of 124,000 people covering every state of India.Mohan has also done commendable work on Genomics of Diabetes. He and his group have found several novel mutations in Neonatal Diabetes and Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Youth (MODY). They have also recently discovered 3 MODY genes for the first time in the world. He along with colleagues in India were responsible for describing the "Asian Indian Phenotype" which makes Indians more prone to diabetes and pre-mature coronary artery disease. He has also developed the Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) which helps to detect undiagnosed diabetes in the community and also to predict incident diabetes, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. He has published over 1050 papers which includes 672 original articles and 142 chapters to textbooks and 224 invited editorials and review articles with a h-index of 91 and has over 38,000 citations. He has mentored 25 Ph.D. students.
Other contributions: Mohan serves on the several scientific committees such as the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Council of Medical Research, World Health Organization and International Diabetes Federation.
Awards and Honors: He has received the Padma Shri from the Govt. of India, the Dr. B.C. Roy Award from Medical Council of India, the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Centenary Award from the Indian Council of Medical Research, the highest award for Biomedical research in India and several other awards.
