Emmanuel Bhaskar

Biography

I underwent my MBBS training from 1993-99 at Chengalpet Medical College and Hospital, Chengalpet located in the suburban region of Chennai. The hospital catered to a predominantly rural population. During my training, I developed a special interest in public health and I choose to undergo MD ( General Medicine) at Stanley Medical College and Hospital, Chennai from 2000-2003.

I had the blessing of getting trained under Prof. S. Shivakumar, who had extensive research experience in tropical kidney disease, leptospirosis, and toxicology. At a time when student research was not a priority in India, Prof.Shivakumar sowed the seeds for “thinking of research” among MBBS and MD students. Under his guidance, I participated in a study on methanol poisoning which was published in the Journal of Association of Physicians of India; which was my first research publication (2003). His training in critical appraisal of published research helped me get my first international publication(2004), a correspondence commenting on a review article on cirrhosis in the reputed New England Journal of Medicine.

My postgraduate training on clinical medicine and research gave a strong foundation for my research efforts. Having observed the inaccuracy of weight-based treatment in severe hyponatremia during my postgraduate days, my first research effort was to develop a more accurate algorithm for the treatment of severe hyponatremia. My group worked on a non-weight-based protocol that used response to a fixed dose of saline infusion to decide on follow-up doses. This concept of using a non-weight-based protocol faced resistance during publication attempt; with many leading journals giving sharp criticisms of the concepts. We are grateful to the Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine which after a very laborious assessment published the study in 2010. Following the publication. Similar non-weight-based treatment was studied across the globe. Subsequently, the study was cited in the international guidelines on hyponatremia treatment ( European Journal of Endocrinology;2014:170, G1–G47 DOI: 10.1530/EJE-13-1020 ) and also in the NEJM review by Dr Sterns ( 10.1056/NEJMra1404489 Ours was the only Asian study cited in the article). The recognition given to our hyponatremia study motivated me to attempt many clinical concepts.

As you can see under my works; my group has contributed to research on infectious diseases and public health. Most of these were carried out without any major external funding and I strongly believe that most public health and hospital-based observational studies can be done with the support of dedicated students who wish to learn clinical research.
Despite being observational studies, these made a significant impact on clinical practice policy; as seen with the impact produced by the study of the benefits of face shields in the prevention of COVID-19 among community health workers which was published in the Journal of American Medical Association.

Since 2021, my group is working on large sample community studies based on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.