Dr Gifty Immanuel

Dr Gifty Immanuel is a physician-scientist in human virology, with over twenty years of experience in clinical management, research, and the prevention of emerging viral diseases. He currently directs the Center for AIDS & Antiviral Research in India and was the former director of Church of South India Hospital, Bangalore. 

He has been involved in the management of lethal infectious diseases like bubonic plague, cholera, viral hemorrhagic fevers (dengue, chikungunya, KFD), HIV/AIDS, HCV, HBV, and zoonotic pox diseases like Orf, and sexually transmitted molluscum contagiosum. He actively participates in rabies virology research, prophylaxis, and disease control. Immanuel has organized mass vaccinations for hepatitis-b, polio, and COVID-19. He has served as the lead investigator for exotic pathogen detection and outbreak investigations. Gifty Immanuel has trained in the medical and public health management of biological casualties, triage, and decontamination. 

He is an elected Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (FIDSA, 2023), Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, UK (FRCP, 2022), and Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians, UK (FFPH, 2019). 

He is a graduate of Harvard Medical School with an MS in bioethics related to biodefense. And holds a PhD in Virology from M.S. University, India, and an MD from Our Lady of Fatima University, Philippines. He has an MPH&TM from James Cook University, Australia, and a diploma in vaccinology from the Pasteur Institute, Paris. He was trained in BSL4 lab biosafety at SERCEB-Emory University, Atlanta, in 2007.