You might have heard about epidemiologists in the last two years, thanks to Covid-19. You may have read in newspapers or watched on TV epidemiologists expressing their expert opinion on the pandemic. An epidemiologist studies the origin, distribution and prevention of diseases.
Dr. Jeemon Panniyammakal is an epidemiologist working in Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Thiruvananthapuram. He is an associate professor in the Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies in SCTIMST.
Dr. Jeemon hails from Nilambur in Kerala. He has been doing research on cardiovascular diseases for the past 16 years. He introduced a model to reduce the risk for family members who are in the high-risk category for heart diseases. A trial run was done by randomly selecting the families and by bringing lifestyle changes followed by regular check-ups. This was seen to reduce the risk factor. The study was published in the medical journal Lancet Global Health.
Jeemon Panniyammakal completed his PhD from the University of Glasgow, U.K and MPH degree from the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology. He has conducted several surveys which are published as research articles. Treatment burden in primary care units, intervention for blood pressure reduction and study of children of epileptic women etc are a few among them. Some of these studies are focused on areas in the Malappuram district. According to Dr. Jeemon, reducing the amount of sugar in one’s coffee itself would make considerable difference in people’s health.
He won the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for medical sciences last year.
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