CHENNAI: While the discovery and her subsequent campaign on AIDS are more famous that her rest of the career, Dr Suniti, along with her husband, eminent cardiologist Dr Victor Solomon, also played a pioneering role in spreading awareness and conducting an outreach programme about rheumatic fever and heart disease.
State Director of Public Health, Dr K Kolandaswamy, another of Dr Suniti’s students who attended her microbiology classes at the MMC from 1988-1990, recalled how he and his friends from the medical college used to accompany the couple to several schools to screen children for rheumatic fever.
“Two remarkable things about her are the effort she took to spread awareness about rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, and also her role as an excellent teacher. She not only contributed her life-giving care to those living with AIDS and undertaking research activities, but also contributed to spreading awareness about rheumatic care,” Kolandaswamy added.
Dr Solomon died in 2006, but Suniti continued her philanthropic activities till recently, when she was diagnosed with cancer, said a an employee from the YR Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education.
Dr Siniti’s body was cremated at the New Avadi Road crematorium later in the evening. She is survived by her son Dr Sunil Suhas Solomon.