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Dr Life!

Aproova Mandivilli

Nearly thirty years ago, Sudhir Gupta, a graduate of Lucknow University, came to the United States from India with one dream -- to be successful in the world of research science.

Today, as chief of the Immunology department at the University of California at Irvine, with a wife who is a success in her own right, two high-achiever children, a beautiful house and a career that has brought him fame and success, Dr Sudhir Gupta is living the American Dream. His wife is an obstetrician; their daughter plans to begin studies at the University of California in Berkeley this fall and their son, an avid athlete, is in the seventh grade. The family lives in Newport Beach in California.

After short stints at Columbia University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell University Medical College in New York, Dr Gupta moved to the University of California, Irvine in 1982 to become one of the youngest professors of medicine in the United States; he has won several awards including the distinguished Arthur Manzel Award from Columbia University and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the J M Foundation, New York; he has published approximately 400 scientific publications, edited 14 books and trained more than 50 post-doctoral research fellows from all over the world; in 1986, he was presented to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at a special ceremony of the Royal Society of Medicine, London.

A few months ago, Dr Gupta's findings on the death of immune cells in aging individuals intrigued researchers and captured media attention. The success is the latest in a long line of achievements that he attributes to his love for research science and his hard work.

"Research is the thing that gives me happiness," said Dr Gupta, in a phone interview from his office at UC-Irvine. Research, he says, is what drove him to leave the long family line of doctors in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh and "a lot of money" behind.

While Dr Gupta talks warmly of the country he left behind, he is full of praise for the American work ethic: "One good thing about [America] is if you work hard and you are good, you can go the top and your work will be recognized."

He travels to India often and has collaborated with several scientists there but, he said, "what has held me back has been the way the system is in India. There are so many obstacles to science. I would have not been able to do there what I have done here."

Dr Gupta believes that India has very talented scientists and looks forward to the day when India will lead the world in medical breakthroughs. "I'm always very proud of our heritage," he said.

"When I look at some of my colleagues from our part of the world, I feel proud of that." He stresses the need for scientists such as himself to work actively with scientists still in India. "I feel that if I have something to give back to the country, then I owe that," he said.

Throughout his life, Dr Gupta said, his mantra has been "perseverance, patience, and hard work." He advises all young people to "persist and prevail and you will be successful." For himself, he says, he wants to "continue to be a successful scientist, a good clinician and have a happy and successful family."

The writer is a graduate student at New York University.

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