Dr. Joana Chakraborty, Ph.D., M.S., B.Sc.
Dr. Joana Chakraborty is a Professor of Physiology and Molecular Medicine at the Medical College of Ohio school of Medicine since 1970. She is the Block 1 Course Director and Chair of the Grievance Board, and member of several boards - Sub-curriculum Committee, Curriculum Committee, Student Promotions Committee, Multicultural Diversity committee, and the Curriculum Evaluation Committee.
She has been a Professor in the Department of Physiology in the Medical College of Ohio since 1983; where she has been an Associate Professor (1975-1982), Assistant Professor (1972-1975), Director of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory (1970-1989). She has been an Interim Chairman of the Department in 1991 to 1993; and serves as the Acting Chairman several times a year since 1984. She has been a Visiting Scholar at Cambridge University , England in 1977. She has been a Visiting Scientist at the University of Nara and Nagoya in Japan; and a Lecturer at the Biophysics Division of the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta, India. She has been a Ford Foundation Fellow at then Harbor UCLA Medical Center in California .
Dr. Chakraborty has the Distinction to receive Full Professorship by Merit Promotion as the First Woman Faculty Promoted to this Position at the Medical College of Ohio in 1982. She was one of the Two Post-Doctoral Fellows selected from India out of a large number of International Candidates for the Ford Foundation Fellowship at Harbor UCLA Medical Center in 1969; and was the only Graduate student selected from the Biological Sciences at the Institute of Nuclear Physics on a Competitive Basis for the Ph.D. degree program in 1957.
Research Interests center around her background in Cell Biology and Reproductive Physiology. Dr. Chakraborty's background in reproductive physiology has led to a new interest in AIDS research in the form of Education and Prevention More specifically, she is interested in the mechanism of HIV transmission from mother to fetus and the mechanism of Heterosexual Transmission. She has authored several research articles in well renowned peer-reviewed scientific journals, and is very well known in the field internationally.
Dr. Chakraborty has headed the Medical College of Ohio (MCO) Team to help Train Health Care Workers Battling HIV/AIDS in India . Under her stewardship, the team has trained more than 380 health care workers about the HIV and the care of patients with AIDS. The team conducted Educational Workshops all over the country involving Medical Students, Nurses, and Social Workers. These activities were funded by a grant to MCO from the World AIDS Foundation, which has its headquarters in Paris and Geneva . Written by Dr. Chakraborty, and other colleagues at the MCO, the proposal was one of 22 funded by the group from a pool of several hundred submissions. The team was successful because of a pilot project supported three years earlier by the dean of the School of Medicine at MCO and the Medical College of Ohio Foundation.
The programs and workshops provided valuable information on the transmission of the disease, care of infected patients, preventive measures and other information. The programs held under her initiative and incessant activities have received extensive coverage in Indian newspapers and on the country's national radio and television news programs.
Dr. Chakraborty hopes that individuals who received the training will disseminate accurate information regarding the disease to others and that mass educational programs will be organized. That is the only way that the country can reduce the number of individuals infected with the deadly virus. The AIDS epidemic is on the rise at an alarming rate in India and other Developing Countries; and many health care professionals do not have enough knowledge about the disease. Some are even afraid to treat patients with HIV infection or AIDS. She has received several Grants and Contracts as principal investigator: Three NIH Grants, and grants from Rockefeller Foundation, Stranahan Foundation, Three B.R.S. Grants, Local Foundation, several Spring and Summer Research Program, American Foundation for Urologic Disease, Kidney Foundation, three Worlds AIDS Foundation, Dean's Fund and Foundation Grants, three Douglas Foundation grants; and several Co-Principal Investigator Grants from NCI, B.R.S. foundation, John H. Robinson, M.D. Inc., FXB-USA and MCO Foundation grants.
Dr Chakraborty has authored over 80 scientific research Articles in several eminent National and International Peer-reviewed journals. She has authored over 15 Books and Manuals and over 150 Abstracts, which she presented at various prestigious scientific meetings all over the globe. She has conducted several (15) International Workshops and Mini-symposia - many on HIV/AIDS research and Education.
Dr. Chakraborty belongs to a number of International and National Societies and Associations: American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Physiological Society, American Public Health Association, American Association of Andrology, American Association of Cell Biology, Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology, International AIDS Society, New York Academy of Sciences, Ohio Physiological Society, Society for the Study of Reproduction, Association of Chairmen of Physiology, Electron Microscopy Society of America, and the Ohio Academy of Sciences. She has been honored in the Who's Who in America, American Men and Women in Science, Notable Americans, Who's Who in Midwest, The Directory of Distinguished Americans, Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Men of Achievement, International Who's Who in Community Service, and the Who's Who in Medicine and Health Care.
Dr. Chakraborty has been on over 57 National and International Institutional committees since 1965 - in several capacities as Chairman, Coordinator and Director. She has been on several International HIV, AIDS and other Health related committees. Dr, Chakraborty has been very active in the international lecture scene and has been invited to present several professional scientific gatherings and has regularly been featured at radio and TV who have valued and seek her opinion on a variety of health related issues including HIV and/or AIDS. Dr. Chakraborty has been very active in her teaching career - She has taught several courses to First, Second, Third Year Medical Students, including Nursing, Graduate and Physical Therapy students. She has served as an advisor of several (over 11) Ph.D. and M.S.B.S. Students, and on the advisory committee of over 16 Ph.D., M.S.B.S. and Post-Doctoral students, and guided over 40, developing as many as 10 courses.
Dr. Chakraborty has won several Awards and recognitions: First Class in her class M.S. level in University of Calcutta (1956), The University Book Prize, University of Calcutta (1956), Research Training Scholar (1957-1960), Two Post Doctoral Diplomas from UCLA (1970), Deans Award for Teaching Excellence (1998), and a recipient of several NIH and WAF Grants. She is areviewer for several International Peer-reviewed scientific Journals like - Journal of Reproduction and Fertility, Canadian Journal of Biochemistry, Reviewer of NSF grants, Journal of Andrology, Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, Urology, and is a reviewer of several books.