Just been apprised of the sad demise of one of my prime inspirations in medicine! Davida Coady was an exceptional human being. Millions around the globe have good reason to be grateful to her pioneering crusades in the public health field. Particularly so in India where she headed the smallpox eradication campaign.
Whenever and wherever a public health crisis emerged, Davida was sure to be there. She was driven by a tireless zeal to bring about a change completely oblivious of the odds she had to battle in the most difficult settings! She always believed that public health campaigns had to be planned with a long term vision and was somewhat regretful that this most important sector of medicine was not being accorded that attention it deserved! She was specially harsh on her own country viz the United States where the entire focus of the medical profession was on short term research and…
