Mohan Mishra

Biography

Mohan Mishra was born in Koilakh, in the Madhubani district of the Indian state of Bihar on 19 May 1937. After securing his medical credentials, Dr. Mishra started his career as a resident medical officer at Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in 1962 where he continued till 1995. During his stint at the DMCH, he took a sabbatical in 1970 to secure MRCP from the UK. In 1979, Mishra became the Professor of the General Medicine department. Another higher degree of FRCP was obtained in 1984 from Edinburgh in 1984 and two years later, in 1986, he became the Head of the Department of General Medicine at the DMCH. He also secured an FRCP from London in 1988. Dr. Mishra retired in 1995, voluntarily ending his career at the DMCH.

Legacy

Mishra's studies on Visceral leishmaniasis are considered by many as his most notable contribution. Leishmaniasis, the second largest parasitic killer after Malaria and known locally as Kala Azar, was a common disease in the area and, after extensive research funded by the World Health Organization, Dr. Mishra proposed the use of Amphotericin B (Fungizone) to combat the disease through an article he published in Lancet in 1991. The proposal is regarded as a pioneering one and the drug is the one most commonly used the world over to treat Kala Azar.

Mishra is also credited with research on arsenic in drinking water. His studies on the subject, assisted by his son, Narottam Mishra who is an Information Scientist at the Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, have been successful in finding a cost effective way to eliminate arsenic from drinking water by using food grade alum. His article on the topic has been published by ResearchGate.

He has shown that Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri), a herb traditionally used in India, can be effective in the treatment of Dementias. This study is registered in a WHO Primary Registry (ISRCTN18407424). The work entitled, BRAHMI (Bacopa Monnieri Linn) in the Treatment of Dementias- A Pilot Study is available on Research Gate.

Dr. Mishra is the author of A Textbook of Clinical Medicine, published by the Oxford University Press. and Clinical Methods in Medicine a guide on clinical examination of patients.

He has also written several non fiction books such as:

Mishra has also written many articles in international scientific journals such as Lancet and British Medical Journal.

Mohan Mishra lives in Bengali Tola in Laheriasarai, the twin city of Darbhanga, in North Bihar engaging himself with social activities such as free medical camps in remote villages in the Darbhanga, Jhanjharpur and Madhubani districts.

Positions

Mohan Mishra has served on two expert committees on Kala Azar set up by the Government of Bihar and the Government of India and has been an expert member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). He has also served as the Inspector of the Medical Council of India for the master's degree examinations of Assam University, Silchar and Tamil University, Tanjavur. His research paper presentations at various national and international scientific conferences included the annual conferences of the Association of Physicians of India and the World Congress of Cardiology, held in 1986 at Washington DC.

Awards and recognitions

Moham Mishra is a recipient of Dr Rajendra Prasad Oration award which Rajendra Prasad Memorial Research Institute, Patna conferred on him for his studies on Kala Azar. He has been honoured by the Delhi Administration for his literary work on the Indian freedom movement. His book, India Through Alien Eyes, won the Wishing Shelf Award in 2012. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri, in 2014, by including him in the Republic day honours.

Publications