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| OBITUARY |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 60
| Issue : 3 | Page : 354 |
Dr. Vidya Acharya
NK Hase
Prof. and Head, Department of Nephrology, Seth G. S. Medical College & K.E. M. Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
| Date of Web Publication | 14-Aug-2014 |
Correspondence Address:
Prof. N K Hase
Prof. and Head, Department of Nephrology, Seth G. S. Medical College & K.E. M. Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
PMID: 25121393 
How to cite this article:
Hase N K. Dr. Vidya Acharya. J Postgrad Med 2014;60:354 |
The iron lady of nephrology, Prof. (Smt) Vidya N Acharya passed away on 5 th May 2014. She was born on 8 th January 1938 and had her entire education in Mumbai and completed her MBBS (1960) and MD (1964) from the Seth GS Medical College.
As the first lady nephrologist of India, she was responsible for establishment and development of the Nephrology Unit at the institute way back in 1963. She was the very first to start Dialysis and Transplantation facilities in Western India. She was also one of the very few who conceptualized and helped the formation of Indian Society of Nephrology, Indian Society of Organ Transplantation and consistently worked for their progress. She also held the post of president of both societies. She was a founder member and past President of Hypertension society of India. She was an active member of Education Committee, Hypertension and Kidney Disease Detection Committee of International Federation of Kidney Foundation (IFKF) and was extremely passionate about the importance of prevention of Chronic Kidney disease.
Respectfully called "Madam", she was a popular teacher in Medicine and Science, having trained thousands of students at the M.B.B.S. level, hundreds of post graduates in M.D., more than 200 students in the specialty of Nephrology, and more than a dozen research students for M.Sc and Ph.D in the subject of 'Applied Biology' of Mumbai University. Her perseverance, grit, determination, tenacity of purpose and dedication to work, made her a popular clinician, teacher and academician. A book on nutrition entitled "Medical Nutrition Therapy in Renal Diseases and Related Disorder- Recent Advances- Indian Perspective" is one of her great contributions; a subject close to her heart , in which she has developed considerable expertise over the last five decades.
Madam was one of the pioneering researchers in Nephrology in India, with a number of high quality publications in journals and book chapters. She was deeply involved in study of the safety of rich heritage of our plant products as adjuvant and primary therapy for treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). She attempted to bring about a holistic approach to overall management of CKD patients including use of music and yoga therapy. She had worked towards early detection and prevention of CKD from 1994. She was instrumental in drafting and getting passed by parliament - Human Transplant Act (1994). Her contributions to the development of nephrology and nephrologists in India have been immense. Despite facing a number of health issues in her last few years, her commitment to education remained undiminished until the end. She was always on the front row of medical and nephrology conferences. Unafraid of presenting a point of view, she challenged old and young presenters with questions and offered the benefit of her long experience.
She received numerous recognitions, including the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Indian Society of Nephrology, Woman of the year (2000) from the American Biographical Institute, Outstanding woman of 20 th century and the Pioneer award of the International Society of Nephrology.
The institute and the academic community mourn her loss and pray for eternal peace to her soul. While madam is no more, her enigma, dominance and command over the subject of nephrology will ensure that she remains an inspiration and a role model for young minds.
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