VELLORE: Eminent leprosy scientist Dr Charles Kamalam Job passed away here on Saturday. He was 89.
Dr C K Job was the earliest scientist to use the electron microscope in India, particularly for leprosy research, which was installed at the Christian Medical College in 1963.
He was also among the first batch of male medical graduates from CMC and later became the principal of the college. He was also the director of Schieffelin Leprosy Research Sanatorium (SLRS) at Karigiri, till 1968, when he pioneered research on leprosy.
Dr Job was also responsible for instituting the Survey Education and Treatment work in leprosy for the first time in India in 1961 through the NGO, The Leprosy Mission. A large number of patients in villages across the country received treatment through this scheme. Soon, the Central and State governments adopted it as a measure to control leprosy in India.
Job was born on 2 November 1923 in Kanyakumari district, the youngest among 11 children of a devout Christian family. He graduated in science from Travancore in 1942.
After a short stint as a school teacher, he obtained MBBS in 1953 from CMC, and was appointed as a physician subsequently in the newly-started SLRS at Karigiri. Soon, he became the Director of SLRS.
His research interests were related to pathology and immunology of leprosy and its transmission. Until his death, he remained as Scientist Emeritus at Karigiri and in St Thomas Leprosy Centre and Hospital at Chettupattu. Colleagues, relatives, friends and his son Dr Anand Job, HoD of ENT at CMC, described him as a simple, kind person. He was laid to rest at the Protestant cemetery at the Tollgate later.