It is with great sadness and grief that we learnt of the sudden passing of Dr Vasanthapuram Kumaraswami, who died along with his wife Lakshmi and mother Kamala in a car accident on 4 March 2016 on the Chennai-Bangalore national highway near Ambur in Tamil Nadu, India.
A former Director-in-charge, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (formerly Tuberculosis Research Centre), Chennai, India, Dr Kumaraswami was also Director-in-charge of the National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai.
Dr Kumaraswami was an alumnus of Stanley Medical College. He joined the then Tuberculosis Research Centre after completing his postgraduate medical degree in 1979 to start a career in tuberculosis research. This Centre is a prominent institute of the Indian Council of Medical Research. His research forte was diagnosis and immunology of tuberculosis including tropical pulmonary eosinophilia, and he headed the Division of immunology for nearly two decades. Tropical pulmonary eosinophilia is also one of the clinical syndromes caused by lymphatic filariasis (LF) and it made him turn his attention to LF of which India is the largest endemic country.
Although his services were required in tuberculosis research, Dr Kumaraswami was moved by the magnitude of the LF problem in India. Working overtime, he initiated a number of studies with a focus on LF immunology in collaboration with national and international stakeholders. In this role he guided scores of young professionals to undertake LF research and, with the help of colleagues, planned and implemented path breaking research studies on treatment, pathology and morbidity management of LF. Dr Kumaraswami was among the first in the world to evaluate the impact of ivermectin on LF.
As a key contributor to the founding of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis he implemented a number of studies in India and other endemic countries through the WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. As one of the strongest advocates for the Global Programme, he convinced policy-makers to initiate and expand the nascent mass drug administration programme in India and the entire South-East Asia region.
Dr Kumaraswami steered several groups of workers in policy-making, planning and executing research activities, endearing himself to every worker with his suave, humble and friendly manner.
His death is an irreparable loss to the entire global neglected tropical diseases community.