CHANDIGARH: Professor Jitendra Kumar Sahu, a pediatric neurologist at PGIMER, Chandigarh, conferred the award of “Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar: Vigyan Yuva-Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar” for the year 2024 in Medicine, by Smt. Droupadi Murmu, Hon’ble President of India on 22 August 2024 in Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. This is the highest national science award which is awarded to person <45 years of age in recognition of outstanding contributions to research, technology and innovation in the field of Medicine. Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) of S&T and ES also graced the occasion.
Dr Sahu comes from a humble family background. His father, the late Shri Daulat Ram Sahu was Executive Engineer in MP Electricity Board and mother Smt. Shanti Sahu is a housewife. Their nurturing and influence set him on a path of academic excellence. He is the youngest among four brothers and has a younger sister. He did his early schooling up to Class 3 from R.C. School, Chachai, Shahdol; Class 4 to 8 from Gandhi Shishu School, Sidhi; Class 9 from Govt. Adarsh Multipurpose H.S. School, Chhindwara and completed his schooling (class 10-12) in 1996 from Mission School Seoni, Madhya Pradesh. He topped the premedical entrance examination test in 1997 in Madhya Pradesh.
After earning MBBS from Pt JNM Medical College, Raipur in 2003, he joined All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and pursued MD (Pediatrics) and DM (Pediatrics Neurology). He joined PGIMER, Chandigarh as a faculty in 2011 and was promoted to Professor in 2021. His training, fellowships in several countries, and premier institutions ─ Great Ormond Street Hospital, London; Queensland Children's Hospital, Brisbane; Nationwide Children Hospital, USA ─ have provided him with rich international experience and broad perspective.
He primarily works on childhood epilepsy, and children with neurological disorders, and with over 175 publications and various national and international research grants, he has immensely contributed in the epidemiology, diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitation research. His team has elucidated the genetic landscape of infantile spasms and Dravet syndrome – both are severe epilepsy which begin in infancy. He contributed to developing in-house genetic testing for children with Dravet syndrome. Dravet syndrome is a prototype condition of precision-based medicine where genetic diagnosis helps in treatment choice. His research has demonstrated that DPT vaccination-associated seizures or epilepsy are basically because of underlying genetic predisposition of the child and there is no reason for vaccine hesitancy. He is recognized as an international leader on the topic of infantile spasms. He founded the South Asia-allied Infantile Spasms Research Group, including members of nine countries. His research identified key drivers of treatment lag in infantile spasms and formed international key recommendations to mitigate treatment lag. He also worked on the implementation of telemedicine in the care of persons with epilepsy.
Previously, he has been the recipient of the John Stobo Prichard Award 2024 and Sheila Wallace Award 2016 by International Child Neurology Association; Bruce S. Schoenberg International Neuroepidemiology Award 2023 by the American Academy of Neurology, the Bernard D'Souza Award 2019 by the Child Neurology Society, USA, ‘Ihsan Dogramaci Research Award 2017-18’ by International Pediatric Association Foundation; the Association of Child Neurology-All President's award 202; Dr. Ashok Panagariya Memorial Young Scientist award 2022 by Indian Academy of Neurology and Dr. HB Dingley Memorial Award 2014 by Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi.
Dr Sahu expressed gratitude to all his teachers, collaborators, students, and children with neurological disorders under his care, research ambiance and leadership of the Institute.