Dr Roy Chaudhury spearheaded many projects as an academician, pharmacologist and researcher
Padma Shri Prof Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, who through his visionary leadership and commitment to the progress of clinical research in India, recently passed away in Chennai. He was the chairman of the National Committee for formulating the policy and guidelines in drugs and clinical trials in India, set up by the Government of India.
In a career spanning 40 years, Dr Roy Chaudhury spearheaded many projects as an academician, pharmacologist and researcher. He contributed and established the Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs and prestigious Department of Pharmacology in Chandigarh. He was also a part of WHO Headquarters-Geneva, Regional Office at Alexandria Egypt and Rangoon, Burma as Head of Mission and at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He was presented with the Padma Shri in 1998 for his perpetual contributions to the healthcare sector.
Prof Roy Chaudhury was a Member of the Committee which drafted the first Ethical Guidelines on Research in Human Subjects of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 1980. He has written twenty five books and has over 225 papers to his credit. He has also served as President of the Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs, Founder President of the Delhi Medical Council, chaired the Committee for Postgraduate Medical Education. He was nominated as a Member of the Central Council for Health and Family Welfare in 2009. He has been recently been appointed as Advisor to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of National Capital Territory of Delhi and more recently as Chairman of the Expert Committee for Reforms in Drug Regulation and Clinical Trials set up by the MoHFW, Govt of India.
Express Pharma has featured his views many times in the past (http://archivepharma.financialexpress.com/sections/cover-story/3852-consent-by-camera-when-visuals-don-t-tell-the-full-story) and joins the fraternity in conveying our deepest condolences to his family.
Placing on record their appreciation of his contribution to the clinical research fraternity, and ISCR statement recalled his words at the inauguration of ISCR’s 8th Annual Conference in February this year: “India cannot afford not to do research in new drug discovery. Have confidence in the new rules and regulations, take advantage of them and bring clinical trials back to India.”
ISCR appealed to the entire clinical research fraternity to continue on the journey to make his mission of bringing clinical trials back to India a reality, by continuing to work together to ensure that patients in India have access to newer and better medicines that clinical research makes possible.
Condoling Prof Roy Chaudhury’s demise, a DIA statement recalled his ‘generous spirit of volunteerism and helpful guidance (which) will be greatly missed’. Commending him for being ‘an influential leader and valued volunteer of DIA for a number of years’, the statement recalled a recent event, DIA India’s 8th Annual Meeting at which Prof Roy Chaudhury provided the keynote address. He also served as the India Regional Editor for DIA’s membership publication, Global Forum.
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