Kamlakar Tripathi

Kamlakar Tripathi is a retired professor of medicine at the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, known for his teaching and for caring for poor patients. Since retiring he has continued to treat people free of charge. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of medicine, from Uttar Pradesh ^[1].

Training in nephrology

Tripathi was born on 1 July 1951 in Madanpur village, Siddharthnagar district ^[2]. He graduated in medicine from BHU in 1973, took his MD in 1978, and qualified in nephrology, the medicine of the kidneys, with a DM in 1982 ^[2]. He trained at PGIMER Chandigarh, CMC Vellore and the Royal Free Hospital in London, and worked at McMaster University in Canada in 1976 ^[2]. He joined BHU in 1979 and served as reader and professor until 2016 ^[2].

Doctor, teacher and actor

He was active in the Junior Red Cross as a schoolboy, and as a student actor represented BHU in Hindi theatre performances in the United States, Canada, Britain and the Netherlands in 1984 ^[2]. He has led several medical societies, including the UP Diabetic Association and the Indian Society of Hypertension, and was founder chairman of the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India ^[2].

He has written more than 300 research papers, given more than 600 invited lectures and is chief editor of an international textbook on diabetes ^[2]. According to his citation, a 2013 drive at BHU’s Sir Sunder Lal Hospital to register diabetes patients on a single day was recognised as a world record ^[2].