Soniya Nityanand

Soniya Nityanand built blood-disorder care in Uttar Pradesh almost from scratch, and is described as India’s first woman bone-marrow transplant specialist. In 2025 she was named for the Padma Shri in the field of medicine, from Uttar Pradesh ^[1].

Lucknow and Stockholm

Nityanand was born on 6 September 1962 ^[2]. She studied medicine at King George’s Medical College in Lucknow and earned a PhD in immunology from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm ^[2].

Building a specialty

In 1993 she joined the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow and set up Uttar Pradesh’s first haematology unit ^[2]. In 1999, almost single-handed, she started its bone-marrow transplant programme, which grew into a major referral centre for patients from the state and beyond ^[2]. In 2005 she set up a stem-cell research facility, later a full Stem Cell Research Centre ^[2].

She has worked on cervical cancer vaccination, screening for thalassemia carriers and hemophilia care in Uttar Pradesh ^[2]. She later directed the Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences and is now vice-chancellor of King George’s Medical University ^[2].