Achievements

Some Academic Distinctions:

Tuberculosis and Specifically Drug Resistant TB

Dr Udwadia is actively involved in TB research collaborations with partners from across the globe. Some of these projects involve new TB diagnostics (with colleagues at the Imperial College, London) and new TB drugs with colleagues in Europe and the U.S. His group was the first to publish data on survival of a large cohort of MDR-TB patients treated on an OPD basis in the Hinduja Hospital. His group was also the first to report XDR-TB from India. They were the first Indian group to use Linezolid as a salvage drug in these desperately ill patients. He was the only Indian invited by WHO to be on the TB ‘Guidelines Group’. This group after meetings in Paris formulated the 4th edition of the TB Guidelines, published by WHO in 2010. His publication of the 1st patient with Totally Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (TDR-TB) attracted intense medical and media interest across the globe. His work was featured on the front pages of the TIME Magazine, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, BBC, CNM, Reuters, Times UK, Bloomberg and the Canadian Globe amongst others. The Economic Times included him in their list of “India’s 15 strategists: dreamers who have translated insight into reality” with the citation reading “his contribution to understanding the gravity of the scourge called TB is outstanding.” He has been a prolific lecturer having given over 100 international lectures across the globe. Of special mentions are guest lectures , orations, and inaugural addresses before the British, European and American Thoracic societies, international Union against TB, Royal Society of Medicine, Gates Grand Challenges meeting, Gordon Research Conference, Harvard Medical School (on 3 occasions) and the Royal Society of Medicine (London). The New York Times paper recently ran a “Saturday profile” features on him. He was recently invited to give a TED talk on tuberculosis.

Tropical lung disease

He was invited to contribute the chapter on Tropical lung disease in Tores and Mandell’s Respiratory Infections, the standard international text book on respiratory infections. His work on the epidemiology of community acquired pneumonia is one of the only epidemiological studies of Pneumonia from this country.

Interstitial lung diseases

This is an area of interest and research. He was invited in 2009 to contribute the chapter on ‘ILD: an Indian perspective’ in the prestigious ERS monograph. He was the sole Indian invited by the American Thoracic Society to be a member of the international multidisciplinary consensus panel to develop a consensus classification on ILD. His report of a case of BOOP was the first of its kind from India. This was followed by the publication of the only Indian case series of patients with BOOP in 2009. He was involved in the international trials of Nintedanib, a new antifibrotic drug for IPF.

HIV

He was the first to isolate the HIV 2 virus from the lung of a patient, a finding reported in Thorax. His group was the first in the country to report a large series of patients with Pneumocystis Carini Pneumonia (PCP) in Indian HIV positive patients.

Sleep Medicine

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) was considered rare in India till the publication of his landmark article in the American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine. This put OSA in India on the world stage as the prevalence of OSA in middle aged Indians in his study was higher than in most other parts of the world. He has extensive experience in diagnosing and treating patients with sleep disorders.

Bronchoscopy

Was trained in a variety of bronchoscopic techniques in the UK and has performed large numbers of bronchoscopies and transbronchial lung biopsies in a wide range of different diseases. He continues to be actively involved with patient care and research at the Hinduja Hospital with areas of ongoing research being tuberculosis, drug-resistant tuberculosis, interstitial lung disease, pneumonia, sleep disorders and sarcoidosis.

Awards and Honors:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Eduljee Maneckji Damla Silver Medal in IInd M.B.B.S
  • Max Lennan Scholarship in IIIrd M.B.B.S.
  • D.R. Bardi Gold Medal and Book Prize in IIIrd M.B.B.S.
  • The Mancherji P. Choksey Memorial Gold Medal in IIIrd M.B.B.S.
  • The Dr. Govind Vishnu Juvekar Prize in IIIrd M.B.B.S.
  • The Dr. A.J. Kohiyar Prize 1984 for standing 1st in the IIIrd M.B.B.S Examinations in Medicine amongst Post-Graduate registered students in medicine.
  • The Dr. A.J. Kohiyar Oration delivered on 29th March 1985 under the auspices of “The Research Society” of Grant Medical College at its Annual Conference.
  • The Dr. Swamy award for the best Post-Graduate thesis submitted for the M.D. exams.
  • The Searle Award for the best original research paper presented at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cardiology Society of India, November 22, 1991.
  • Dr Ellis Oration on India’s MDR-TB crisis, 2001.
  • Dr Kapadia Oration on HIV and the lungs, 2004.
  • Dr Rangarajan Memorial Oration on Drug Resistant TB, 2015.
  • On the editiorial board of the International Journal – Thorax.