Dr. Abha Rani Aggarwal, Scientist E
Highlights of Achievements during the Assessment Period (April 2006- Till date)
1. Total Papers Published: = 20 ( International = 6 & National = 14)
1st /corresponding author = 12
Co-author = 8
2. Awards/Honors: = 2
- BG Prasad award of ISMS for inverse sampling
- Awarded FSMS, Fellow of ISMS during the year 2012.
3. Contributed one chapter in a book” Topics in Prevalent diseases- A minority Perspective ( 2009) , Nova Publisher, New York
4. Developed inverse sampling for estimation of disease burden of leprosy.(published in 2010 with 5 citations)
5. Translated inverse sampling & Designed National Sample Survey for estimation of disease burden of leprosy.
6. Translated snowball sampling for estimation of maternal mortality ratio & for determination of risk factors (published in IJMR2007 with 15 citations &IJMS 2007 with 11 citations )
7. Established Clinical Trials Registry- India (2007 continued till date).
8. No. of Extra Mural Projects conducted as a PI/Co-PI: 5
9. Funding received from extramural projects. Rs. 3.25 Crores
10. Member of Best Practice Group (BPG) of WHO from Feb 2009-July 2010 which aimed to standardize the norms for trial registration globally.
11. Participated in six teleconferences with WHO and contributed significantly in audit trail, secondary ID, sub title, Recruitment status for registration.
12. Organized 12 Dissemination workshops of CTRI and presented registration process.
13. Presented 5 papers in International Conferences at USA, Canada and UK and 11 papers in National Conferences
14. Chaired 5 sessions in National and 3 sessions in International conferences.
15. Delivered 37 invited lectures on Biostatistics, Sampling, Epidemiology and clinical trials.
16. Reviewed 60 Proposals/Papers
17. Provided 54 consultancies to MD students/scientists.
18. Recognized Ph.D Guide affiliated with IP University and currently guiding one student.
19. Leading a team of 3 scientists and 6 DEOs.
Impact of contribution in Public Health.
Two advanced survey methodologies have been developed for the benefit of public health namely Inverse Sampling and Snowball Sampling. In addition, Established Clinical Trials Registry – India. Brief of each is given below
1. Inverse Sampling for estimation disease burden of Leprosy
During 2009, a new innovative sampling scheme namely inverse sampling was evolved to estimate disease burden of Leprosy in the country on pilot basis and found to be effective to be adopted at National level. This methodology is new in the sense that no one has used inverse sampling earlier for estimation of disease burden. This had a direct impact on National Leprosy Eradication Programme and programme was reevaluated by conducted a National Level study to provide the state level estimate of leprosy and country as a whole. The findings of pilot study were published in IJMR during 2010 with 5 citations and presented in International IEA conference in U.K. In addition one BG Prasad award of Indian Society of Medical Statistics was also received during 2010 for this publication.
2. Snowball Sampling for capturing maternal deaths
Maternal Mortality ratio is one of the major public health problems. Estimation of maternal mortality ratio is difficult due to large sample size and no suitable methodology available. Snowball sampling was developed to estimate the maternal mortality ratio on pilot basis in five states during 2005. This sampling procedure was also adopted first time for capturing maternal deaths. The findings of the study were published in IJMR during 2007 with 15 citations and presented in international conference in USA. As an impact in public health various researches in public health have adopted this methodology in other similar situations also.
Based on the finding of the pilot study, the technique was translated in another study “Determination of risk factors associated with maternal deaths in slum areas of Delhi: A community based case control study” published in IJMS during 2007 with 11 citations and presented in international conference at Hawaii.
In view of my research on maternal mortality, I was invited by the International Editor of a book namely “Topics in Prevalent Diseases: A minority’s perspective” to contribute a chapter in Book during 2008. The chapter appeared during 2009.
Recently the technique was translated for estimation of MMR in Orissa and Rajasthan State. The applicant was the PI of the study funded by Task Force Statistics, ICMR. The study is completed and report submitted October 2012.
3. Clinical Trials Registry- India.
Clinical trials registry –India was established with the aim of ushering in transparency, accountability and accessibility of clinical trials. Since its launch on 20th July 2007, about 3500 trials have been registered in the CTRI. The trial registration was supported by Drug Controller General (India) and declared as mandatory w.e.f 15th June 2009. The editors of biomedical journal also supported and published a statement that the results of any clinical trials will be published once the trial is registered under CTRI from January 2008 onwards. Further, the CTRI is a primary registry, since Dec 2008 every month the data is being transferred to WHO’s ICTRP and CTRI data become the part of the global pool of data. Trials are searchable from ICTRP globally. The CTRI data base is regularly accessed by various stakeholders from within and outside the country. These include patients, researchers, social activists, journalists as well as Parliamentarians and provided all information being asked by them. The CTRI also works with close tandem with DCGI. DCGI has taken initiative to register the ethics committee, CROs and create a data base on the new application being approved by them. Therefore, CTRI is also translated for the benefit of the public.
Awards/Honors
1. Confer for Fellow of Indian Society for Medical Statistics ( FSMS) for year 2012 by President of ISMS during the ISMS conference held on 6-8th October 2012 at DMC, Ludhiana.
2. Awarded BG Prasad award, a medal and a certificate for published work in the field of Epidemiology “Inverse sampling for Disease Burden of Leprosy” for the year 2010 during ISMS conference held at Chennai 3-5 Nov.2011
S.No / Title of paper / Authorship / Journal / Impact Factor / Citation1. / Inverse sampling to study disease burden of Leprosy (2010) / 1st / IJMR / 1.837 / 5
2. / House- to- house survey vs. Snowballing Survey Technique for capturing maternal deaths in India: A Pilot Study in Search of a Cost Effective Method.(2007) / corresponding / IJMR / 1.837 / 15
3. / Risk Factors for Maternal Mortality in Delhi Slums: : A Community Based Case Control Study(2007) / 1st / IJMSciences / 1.67 / 11
4. / Review Article on Clinical Trials Registry – India: Redefining the conduct of clinical trials(2008) / corresponding / IJCancer / 0.96 / 8
5. / Clinical Trial Registration Gains Momentum in India(2009) / corresponding / IJMR / 1.837 / 4
List of Top Five Publications out of Twenty Papers Published during 2006-till date
Total Citations of Top Five Papers = 43