Dr. Radha Krishan Dhiman
MD, DM, FAMS, FACG, FRCP Edin, FRCP london, FAASLD
Director, SGPGIMS, Lucknow
Dr Radha Krishan Dhiman is presently working as Professor of Hepatology and Director, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS). Dr Dhiman did his initial medical graduation and post-graduation from the prestigious King George's Medical College, now University, (KGMU) Lucknow followed by post-doctoral Gastroenterology training from SGPGIMS, Lucknow. His academic and teaching career started in 1993 at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. He has been bestowed with Fellow, American College of Gastroenterology, USA in 2001; Fellow, National Academy of Medical Sciences, India in 2010; Fellow, Royal College of Physician (FRCP), Edinburgh in 2017; Fellow, Royal College of Physician (FRCP), London in 2015 and fellow, American Association for Study of the Liver (FAASLD) in 2015.
He blossomed into a multifaceted personality here with special research interest in the complications of cirrhosis, hepatic encephalopathy, Liver Transplantation and viral hepatitis and has authored over 370 research papers [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=dhiman+rk&sort=date&size=200] with an h-index of 51 and i-10 of 190. Because of his immense contribution in the field of both basic and clinical hepatic encephalopathy he was elected as ‘President Elect’ of prestigious International Society on Hepatic Encephalopathy and Nitrogen Metabolism (ISHEN; www.ishen.org) for the period 2012-2014, ‘President’ for the period 2014-2017 and ‘Past President’ for the period 2017-2019. During this period he organized 17th ISHEN International Symposium at New Delhi in March 2017. Dr Dhiman remained Secretary General of Indian Association for Study of the liver (INASL) (www.inasl.org.in) from 2015-2018.
Dr Dhiman was instrumental in starting the Liver Intensive Care Unit (ICU) facility, liver transplantation programme and in starting a new super-speciality course (DM) in Hepatology for the first time in the country in PGIMER, Chandigarh. Dr Dhiman has been frontrunner in promoting organ-donation. Through his persistent efforts, the concept of “Pledging for Organ Donation” on driving license in Chandigarh Union Territory (UT) became a reality in 2013; Chandigarh UT is the 2nd state/UT in India to have this honour.
He was the Scientific Advisor to Hepatitis C Control Program in the Punjab [Mukh-Mantri Punjab Hepatitis C Relief Fund (MMPHCRF)], and Chairman, Injection Safety Programme, Punjab, which was the first public health model to use decentralized care to provide free-of-cost direct antiviral agents to persons with chronic HCV infection with 92% cure rate. The success of this ‘Punjab Model’ was replicated across the country when he worked as the Chairman of Technical Resource Group (TRG) of the National Viral Hepatitis Control Programme (NVHCP). He has won many accolades for his work on Hepatitis Elimination and he is the member of prestigious “Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE)” aimed to eliminate viral hepatitis globally. He is a member of Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Council; he represents India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Bhutan. He has also held positions of the president, International Society on Hepatic Encephalopathy and Nitrogen Metabolism (2014–2017), Chairman of National Action Plan for Viral Hepatitis, Government of India and Member of National Medical Commission.
In 2009, when Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver (INASL) decided to start a new journal, he was selected to be the first Editor-in-Chief. He started JCEH as a quarterly journal to publish outstanding basic and clinical papers on all aspects of liver diseases, including both human and animal studies.
He has received numerous honours and awards. To name a few, he was awarded Dr BC Roy National Award by the President of India (2008); Harold O Conn Award by American Association for the study of Liver (AASLD) for presentation of research paper at the Annual meeting; “Basanti Devi Amir Chand” by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for the year 2009 for outstanding contribution in Hepatology; “Amrut Modi Unichem” given by ICMR in 2007 for significant contribution in Portal hypertension; “Shakuntala Amir Chand Award” given by ICMR for paper on “Prognostic evaluation of early indicators in fulminant hepatic failure by multivariate analysis” and “Dr DV Datta Memorial Oration Award” for excellence in research in Liver Diseases. During his carrier in early days he received "Young Investigators' Award” by 11th Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology and 8th Asian Pacific Society of Digestive Endoscopy at Hong Kong, in 2000, "Young Investigators' Award” by Japanese Society of Gastroenterology 1996 and "Young Clinician Award" by World Congress of Gastroenterolo¬gy, at Los Angeles, 1994.
With relentless pursuit of perfection, he has progressively grown in stature over time to finally assume the charge of his alma mater as the Director of SGPGIMS and Vice Chancellor of KGMU.