Women scientists in India had a reason to cheer this week (17 August, 2015) when Soumya Swaminathan took over as secretary to India’s Department of Health Research and head of Indian Council of Medial Research (ICMR), the country’s apex body for biomedical research. Swaminathan, until recently the director of Chennai based National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, is only the second woman scientist (besides Gowdagere Satyavati) to head the ICMR in its over 100-year history. At the moment, she is also the lone woman to head any public science agency in the country.
