Bishnupada Mukerjee or Bishnupada Mukhopadhyaya was an Indian pharmacologist and orthopedic surgeon, known for his contributions in the fields of pharmacological research and standardization of drugs in India.
21 Facts About Bishnupada Mukerjee
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Bishnupada Mukerjee was born on 1 March 1903 at Barrackpore in the North 24 Parganas district of the Indian state of West Bengal.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee did his early schooling at Barrackpore village school and Kolkata to pass the matriculation with a scholarship for further education.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee passed the Intermediate examination from Scottish Church College, Kolkata with 13th rank in the University of Calcutta and joined the Calcutta Medical College to secure the degree of Bachelor of Medicine with first rank and honours in pharmacology, midwifery and Gynecology in 1927.
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Mukerjee did his residency under Green-Armytage at Eden Hospital for 18 months and moved to Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine where he worked under Sir Ram Nath Chopra who is reported to have successfully persuaded Mukerjee to turn to research by abandoning his medical practice.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee moved to Peking Union Medical College where he worked under renowned pharmacologist, H B Van Dyke.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee worked at CDRI till 1963 and moved to Chittaranjan National Cancer Research Centre, Kolkata as its director to hold the post till his retirement in 1968.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee died on 30 July 1979, at the age of 76.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee's contributions covered the fields of pharmacology, toxicology, endocrinology, physiology, chemotherapy and standardization of procedures besides his administrative contributions.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee was credited with efforts in standardization of drugs by introducing modern protocols of biological standardization and assays.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee's efforts are known for putting control measures in place for controlling the pharmaceutical institutions which he worked on during his assignment with the Drugs Enquiry Committee.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee was instrumental in the establishment of such institutions like Indian Brain Research Association, Indian Biophysical Society and Indian Association for Biological Sciences as well as many research laboratories.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee's contributions led to the publication of Indian Pharmaceutical Codex, a reference book of Indian vegetable drugs.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee was the chairman of the committee which published the second edition of Indian Pharmacopoeia in 1966.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee did research on dextrorotatory hydroocupridine derivatives, anterior pituitary extracts and cyanide poisoning.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee devised methods for determining the prothrombin time, for prolongation of insulin effect and for biological standardization of liver extracts.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee was the general secretary of the Indian Science Congress Association from 1946 to 1952 and presided the 49th Congress in 1962.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee was a member of the council, foreign secretary and vice president of the Indian National Science Academy for various tenures.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee served as the president of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association and Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Association and was a member of the Expert Committee on International Pharmacopoeia of the World Health Organization.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee was a member of the first Pharmacy Council of India when it was constituted in 1949 and served as a member of several government committees and sub committees related to public health.
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Bishnupada Mukerjee received two awards in 1938, the Griffith Memorial Prize and the Nilmony Brahmachari Gold Medal of the University of Calcutta.