Dr Lekha Pandit, professor of Neurology and director of the Center for Advanced Neurological Science at K S Hegde Medical Academy, Nitte (deemed to be university) has been awarded the prestigious fellowship of the National Academy of Science India (NASI), Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
Since its inception in 1930, NASI has selected nearly 2000 fellows from various fields of science for their path breaking research in Science and Technology and for furthering societal education in science. Dr Lekha Pandit is a clinician and basic science researcher whose three decades long work on demyelinating disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica, has remarkably improved the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of these severe diseases in India. She has through her pioneering work shown the increasing prevalence of these diseases among Indians, determined the genetic and environmental factors related and developed and patented the first diagnostic assay for these conditions in India. At K S Hegde Hospital in Mangaluru, she runs one of the largest registries for these diseases in the Indian subcontinent visited by patients from different parts of India and abroad.
Dr Lekha Pandit is one among 150 Indian women scientists and the first from Dakshina Kannada to have been bestowed this national honor.
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