Professor Sitara Ajjampur receives RSTMH Chalmers Medal for research and mentoring
Professor Sitara Swarna Rao Ajjampur has received the 2026 Chalmers Medal from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH), recognising her contributions to infectious disease research and mentoring. The medal was presented during the RSTMH Annual Meeting, held in London on 15–16th October.
Professor Ajjampur is Professor of Microbiology and Head of the Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory at Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore. Since joining the laboratory in 2005, she has established an independent, multidisciplinary research group investigating the epidemiology, impact and prevention of endemic parasitic and enteric bacterial infections.
Her team studies infections caused by Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia spp., Campylobacter spp. and soil-transmitted helminths, amongst others. Working in communities that have been mapped and censused, the group combines cross-sectional surveys, birth cohort studies and trials with high-throughput laboratory testing. Alongside her research, Professor Ajjampur oversees clinical parasitology diagnostics at CMC hospital and develops molecular diagnostic tools for parasitic infections.
Her honours include an NIH Fogarty Emerging Global Leader Award. She leads one of seven NIH-funded Tropical Medicine Research Centers, and her group has been recognised as an ICMR Collaborating Centre of Excellence for soil-transmitted helminths and helminth neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
Professor Ajjampur also serves on the Executive Board of the Global Centre for NTD Research (GCNTDR). The Centre’s Director, Professor Joanne Webster, who received the medal in 2013, nominated her, highlighting both her scientific leadership and her commitment to developing researchers.
“Throughout her career, Sitara has proved herself to be an excellent mentor and supporter of the professional development of junior and senior investigators, both within her team and internationally,” said Professor Webster. “I have been particularly impressed by her commitment and execution in leading large field and laboratory teams, and the potential for real impact that her infectious disease research, diagnostics and training tools have had for global health.”
Commenting on the award, Professor Ajjampur paid tribute to her colleagues and collaborators and reaffirmed her commitment to supporting researchers in low- and middle-income countries.
“I am very honoured to receive the RSTMH Chalmers award this year, joining an illustrious group of researchers, many of whom are the gurus of tropical medicine we have read about and looked up to! This achievement reflects the teamwork of my students and staff at Christian Medical College, Vellore and several long-standing collaborators in global health. As a board member of the GCNTDR, I am committed to training, capacity building and decolonisation initiatives to ensure that early- and mid-career researchers from low- and middle-income countries will have the opportunities to take decisive global leadership roles to reach the NTD roadmap goals.”
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