T. C. Anand Kumar

Tiruchirappalli Chelvaraj Anand Kumar (1936–2010) was an Indian biologist and reproductive biologist and the creator of the second scientifically documented test tube baby in India. He was the founder of Hope Infertility Clinic, Bangalore and the director of the National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (then known as Institute for Research in Reproduction). He was an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medical Sciences and a recipient of the Sanjay Gandhi National Award. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1977, for his contributions to biological sciences.

Biography Born on 18 January 1936 in a Tamil family in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Anand Kumar did his early college studies in Bengaluru before securing a doctoral degree from the Jai Narain Vyas University. Subsequently, he went to the UK for post-doctoral research but returned to India to join the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi in 1969, where he worked till 1982. Later, he moved to the Institute for Research in Reproduction, Mumbai, (present-day National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health) where he worked till his superannuation from official service and founded Hope Infertility Clinic in Bengaluru, a center for infertility clinical service.

Kumar was married to Karpagam and the couple had a son, Vijay and a daughter, Ambika. The family lived in Bengaluru and it was here, he died on the Indian Republic Day (26 January) of 2010, at the age of 74, survived by his wife, children and three grandchildren. Subsequently, he learned of the researches of Subhash Mukherjee and of the birth of Kanupriya Agarwal (Durga) on 3 October 1978 in Kolkata under the supervision of Mukherjee. Kumar checked the handwritten notes and research papers of Mukherjee and acknowledged that the first test tube baby born in India was Durga.Refn|group=note|Subhash Mukherjee, reportedly due to the negligence of his research accomplishment by the establishment, committed suicide on 19 June 1981. and published an article under the title, Architect of India's first test tube baby: Dr. Subhas Mukherjee, the same year through which he established that many of Mukherjee's techniques were pioneering. His efforts were reported to have influenced the subsequent acceptance by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) which eventually recognized the work of Mukherjee. He was the author of several articles detailing his researches, published in peer reviewed national and international journals, PubMed, an online repository of scientific papers, has listed 53 of them. Soon after joining the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi, he established an electron microscopy laboratory in 1970 and later a neuroendocrine research laboratory at the institution. In 1988, he founded the Indian Society for the Study of Reproduction and Fertility (ISSRF) for providing a platform for researches in reproductive biology and served as its founder president. He was a part of the Indian Council of Medical Research team which drafted the National Guidelines for Accreditation, Supervision and Regulation of ART Clinics in India in 2005. He was also associated with organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and government agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology as their adviser. The Indian Academy of Sciences elected him as a fellow in 1981 and he became a fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences in October 2011. He was also a fellow of the Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and a recipient of the Sanjay Gandhi National Award. The Indian Society for the Study of Reproduction and Fertility has instituted an award oration, Founder-President Dr. T. C. Anand Kumar Memorial Oration in his honor.