Indian American physician and philanthropist Dr. Navin C. Shah has committed $525,000 to establish an infectious disease program at BJ Government Medical College in Pune, India, through a collaboration with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
The five-year initiative will be named the Navin C. Shah Infectious Disease Program. It will support research, medical education, patient care and exchanges involving faculty, students and medical residents. Funding will total $105,000 annually.
Shah and Dr. Amita Gupta, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, signed the agreement in Baltimore. Gupta also founded and co-chairs the Johns Hopkins India Institute, which coordinates university partnerships across India.
The program will focus on major public health challenges including tuberculosis, HIV and infections resistant to commonly used antibiotics. It will also establish a patient care fund, organize an annual medical seminar and support visits by Johns Hopkins faculty to India and BJ Government Medical College faculty to the United States.
For Shah, the commitment is rooted in his connection to Pune and the medical college where he trained. The institution’s affiliated public hospital has about 1,800 beds and serves many patients from low-income communities. Shah said the initiative is intended to strengthen training, research and treatment while extending its benefits to other hospitals caring for underserved patients.
The new program builds on a collaboration between Johns Hopkins researchers and Pune medical institutions that began in 2003. Their work has included research on preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission, tuberculosis drugs and vaccines, diagnostic tools, dengue and drug-resistant infections.
Shah is a urologist based in Potomac, Maryland and a founder of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. His gift reflects the role Indian American medical leaders can play in building durable partnerships between American universities and public health institutions in India.
The first seminar connected to the program is scheduled for Dec. 4. Shah has also said his family may consider extending its support beyond the initial five years, potentially broadening the initiative to kidney and lung diseases.
Key Takeaways About Navin Shah
- He has committed $525,000 over five years.
- The program connects Johns Hopkins with his medical alma mater in Pune.
- Funding will support research, education, exchanges and patient care.
- The initiative will address tuberculosis, HIV and drug-resistant infections.
- Shah is a Maryland physician and AAPI co-founder.
