At the Civil Investiture Ceremony-II, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Hon’ble President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, awarded Dr Kumarasamy Thangaraj the Padma Shri, on 23 June 2026. Dr Thangaraj, a distinguished geneticist, is a CSIR Bhatnagar Fellow at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) in Hyderabad.

Over a career spanning more than three decades at CSIR-CCMB, Dr Thangaraj has uncovered details of the ancestry and migrations of various Indian populations. In a country like India, where people from different regions look and live very differently from each other, many wonder about the sources of this diversity. Dr Thangaraj’s work has been seminal in understanding the formation of this diverse population in India as well as in the larger sub-continent. Through his detailed genetic analyses, he has identified unique genetic signatures in different populations and traced them in other populations across the sub-continent. Finding common signatures between populations means they are related to each other. Such studies have explained the ancestry of the Sindhi, Coorgi, Ladakhi, and Nicobarese populations, as well as demystified ancient folklore of the Roopkund lake and the Muziris port city. These studies have highlighted how people from Africa, Europe, and different parts of Asia have been coming and integrating into the Indian subcontinent for centuries, leading to various physical and cultural attributes among the people here.

Dr Thangaraj has also identified unique disease-causing genetic mutations across different Indian sub-populations, a result of endogamy. He has been a strong advocate for genetic testing for rare genetic diseases in the country. He also led the Genome India initiative by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. This initiative has set the stage for India to document the genetic profiles of all its populations — a must in the pursuit of personalised medicine in the country.

“It is a matter of immense honour for CSIR-CCMB to facilitate Dr Thangaraj’s illustrious work. His work has, indeed, helped the country understand its history and envision future healthcare for its people,” remarked Dr Vinay K Nandicoori, Director, CSIR-CCMB.