Dr. Udwadia is interested in all general medical problems but has special training as a chest physician. His special interests include: TB, MDR-TB, ILD, Pulmonary infections, Difficult asthma, Sleep disorders, and COVID.
He has struck the unique balance of combining a busy clinical practice with internationally acclaimed medical research. He sees over 10,000 patients annually in his extremely busy clinics many of them referred from colleagues across India.
He has over 200 PubMed indexed medical research publications and was listed amongst the top 2% of respiratory medicine researchers worldwide in the field of respiratory medicine in a Stanford University publication.
He was the first to report cases to Totally Drug Resistant TB from India. This stirred up intense medical and media attention in 2012 with 2500 articles in newspapers and news sites across the world including BBC, CNN, Reuters, Times UK, Canadian Globe, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Science, Nature and a special feature on him in the prestigious Lancet.
He has been invited to deliver lectures and orations at prestigious conferences and universities around the world including the Royal Society of Medicine (London), the Royal College of Physicians (London), the European Respiratory Society, the American College of Chest Physicians, the International TB Union, and several lectures at Harvard University, Boston.
He was Invited to join the USAID India End-TB alliance and the Global TB Network (GTN) to pursue global TB elimination.
He has been advisor to the WHO, Geneva and helped formulate TB and MDR-TB guidelines.
In 2017 Open Magazine nominated him as one of their twenty five top minds for his impact on public health.
He had given two TED talks one on Drug Resistant Tuberculosis and the other on COVID-19, both of which have been widely viewed.
COVID Related activities: Since the onset of the COVID pandemic in the early months of 2020 Dr. Udwadia has been extremely busy:
- As a “hands-on” physician looking after COVID wards and ICU’s since the start of the pandemic and training the many resident doctors who work as part of his team.
- Educating doctors and medical colleagues across the country on the drug and treatment options for COVID with innumerable lectures and Zoom meetings across the globe. Special mention must be made here of: a) A WHO meeting with chief scientific advisor Dr Soumya Swaminathan, b) a session at the prestigious CROI conference, c) a guest lecture for the Australia & New Zealand Intensive care Society and d) a podcast with the editors of the prestigious NEJM.
- Actively involved in research conducting trials: a) with WHO on different drug options as part of their SOLIDARITY study, b) a trial on a novel oral anti-viral Favipiravir, c) a trial underway on the variants strains causing severe breakthrough infections, d) a trial on the incidence of pneumothorax in COVID patients in the ICU, and d) a trial auditing errors in prescriptions for home treated COVID patients before they were hospitalised.
- Since the start of the pandemic, despite his busy schedule he has continued his academic writing with around 20 PubMed indexed medical publications on COVID-19 in some of the most prestigious medical journals.
- Educating the lay public with credible articles in the Times of India, Indian Express, BBC news interviews, and an article in the FT U.K. which was one of their most widely downloaded articles. He has also been invited to deliver 2 Asia Society lectures on COVID and a TEDX talk on COVID which have been widely viewed.
- He was nominated on the Maharashtra Task Force which meets every Monday and helps the state government with COVID related medical advice.
- He is on a Core Committee of doctors elected by the Supreme Court to form a National Task Force set up to address critical COVID issues like oxygen, drugs and vaccinations.
- Lieutenant Colonel Eduljee Maneckji Damla Silver Medal in IInd M.B.B.S
- Dr. Max Lennan Scholarship in IIIrd M.B.B.S.
- Dr. D.R. Bardi Gold Medal and Book Prize in IIIrd M.B.B.S.
- The Mancherji P. Choksey Memorial Gold Medal in IIIrd M.B.B.S.
- The Dr. Govind Vishnu Juvekar Prize in IIIrd M.B.B.S.
- The Dr. A.J. Kohiyar Prize 1984 for standing 1st in the IIIrd M.B.B.S Examinations in Medicine amongst Post-Graduate registered students in medicine.
- The Dr. A.J. Kohiyar Oration delivered on 29th March 1985 under the auspices of “The Research Society” of Grant Medical College at its Annual Conference.
- The Dr. Swamy award for the best Post-Graduate thesis submitted for the M.D. exams.
- The Searle Award for the best original research paper presented at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cardiology Society of India, November 22, 1991.
- He was listed amongst the top 2% of respiratory medicine researchers worldwide in the field of respiratory medicine in a Stanford University publication.
- He was Invited to join the USAID India End-TB alliance and the Global TB Network (GTN) to pursue global TB elimination.
- He has been advisor to the WHO, Geneva and helped formulate TB and MDR-TB guidelines.
- In 2017 Open Magazine nominated him as one of their twenty five top minds for his impact on public health.
- He had given two TED talks one on Drug Resistant Tuberculosis and the other on COVID-19, both of which have been widely viewed.
He has been invited to deliver lectures and orations at prestigious conferences and universities around the world including the Royal Society of Medicine (London), the Royal College of Physicians (London), the European Respiratory Society, the American College of Chest Physicians, the International TB Union, and several lectures at Harvard University, Boston.
He has over 200 PubMed indexed publications, the majority of them international, in every important medical journal, including: Lancet, Lancet-ID, New England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, Clinical Infectious Disease, Thorax, American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/).
Publications : Chapters in International Textbooks
- Chapters on Asthma and ARDS in : Principles of Critical Care (by F.E.Udwadia, Oxford University Press)
- Chapter on Tuberculosis in India in : Clinical Tuberculosis (ed : P.D.O Davies, Chapman Hill publishers)
- Chapter in Case Presentations in Clinical Tuberculosis (eds. P.D.O Davies, L.P. Ormerod, Arnold Publishers)
- Chapter on Pregnancy and the Lung in Obstetric Medicine. (eds. U. Krishna and N. Sheriar, Orient-Longman)
- Chapter on Hypersensitivity Pneumonia in ‘Allergy and Asthma; a tropical view’ (ed. W. Shaikh, IJCP)
- Chapter on Community Acquired Pneumonia in Textbook of Respiratory Medicine : An Asian Perspective (eds. IP M, Chan-Leung M, Lam WK, Zhong NS)
- Chapter on Legionella Pneumonia in API Textbook of Medicine 7th ed 2003 (ed Shah S)
- Chapter on Epidemiology of OSA in India in Practical Approach to Critical Respiratory Medicine. (Ed Arora VK) 2006
- Chapter on Tropical Respiratory Disease in Respiratory Infections (eds Torres A, Ewig S, Mandell L, Woodhead M) 2006
Publications : International
- Normal chest radiographs in sputum culture positive pulmonary tuberculosis. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2009:1: 148-149.
- Increasing incidence of fluoroquinolone-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis in Mumbai, India. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2009:1: 79-83.
- A 24 year old man with giddiness, hemoptysis and skin lesions. Chest 2008: 134: 5; 1084-1087.
- Images in clinical medicine: Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. N Eng J Med 2007: 357: 19.
- The politics of TB: the politics, economics and impact of directly observed treatment in India. Chronic Respiratory Disease 2007: 4 (2): 101-106.
- XDR Tuberculosis in India: what’s in a name? Lancet ID 2007:7:441-442.
- Multidrug resistant tuberculosis in Mumbai: its only getting worse. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2006; 10:1421-1422.
- Application of multiplex ARMS and SSCP/HD analysis in molecular diagnosis of cystic fibrosis in Indian patients. Molecular Diagnosis 2005: 9 (2) 59-66.
- Utility of the antigen-specific interferon- ? assay for the management of tuberculosis. Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine 2005: 11: 195-202.
- High incidence of the Beijing Genotype among multidrug resistant isolates of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in a tertiary referral centre in Mumbai, India. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005: 40: 881-886.
- Pneumocystis Carinii infection in the developing world. New Eng J of Med 2004
- Prevalence of sleep disordered breathing and sleep apnea in middle-aged urban Indian men. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2004: 169; 168-173.
- Tuberculosis control in India. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2003:3; 535-536.
- CAP in India: What bugs? What tests? What drugs? Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2003:7; 11: s132-s133.
- Etiology of community acquired pneumonia in India. Eur Resp J 2003: 544s
- Incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in urban and rural India and implications for prevention. Clin Infect Dis 2003:36: (12); e152-154.
- Controlling tuberculosis in India. New Eng J Med 2003; 348(8): 758-759.
- A profile of sarcoidosis from a private hospital in Bombay. Chest 2002; 122:4: 146s-147s
- Drug resistant tuberculosis in India. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2002; 6 (11): 1033.
- Health seeking behaviour among tuberculosis patients in rural South Africa. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2002; 6 (4): 365-366.
- India’s multi-drug resistant tuberculosis crisis. Ann NY Acad Sci 2001. 953: 98-105.
- Nebulised alpha interferon is effective in Indian patients with MDR-TB. Am J of Resp and Crit Care Medicine.2001; 163: 5: A103.
- Massive pleural effusion as the presenting feature of a subarachanoid-pleural fistula. Respiration (Karger). 2001; 870: 1-7.
- Fatal cerebral air embolism as a complication of transbronchial lung biopsy: a case report. Australasian Radiology. 2001; 45:215-217.
- Enumeration of T cells specific for RD1-encoded antigens: a novel approach to estimating the prevalence of latent M. tuberculosis infection. Journal of Infectious Disease.2001; 183: 469-477.
- Responses to a sleep questionnaire in 300 Indians attending routine health screening. Thorax. 1999; 54 : 7:A47.
- Mediastinal hibernoma. European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery. 1999; 15:533-535.
- Role of bronchoscopy in an Indian critical care unit : an experience of 118 procedures. Thorax Dec. 1997; 52: suppl. 6 : A65.
- Tracheal Rhinosporidiosis J of Bronchology. Vol 5 No. 1 Jan 1998 : 57-58
- Dual infection with HIV1 and HIV2. Thorax 1997 : 587.
Publications: National
- Tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus: merging epidemics. JAPI 2009:57:399-404. Review.
- XDR-TB in India: when will we heed the alarm? JAPI. 2008: 134:5; 1084-1087. Editorial.
- Cryptogenic organizing pneumonia: clinical profile. JAPI 2008: 56; 229-232.
- Idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis: complete remission with steroids. Indian J Chest Disease Allied Sciences. 2008: 50; 3: 289-291
- Hypereosinophilic syndrome with isolated Loefflers endocarditis. J Postgrad Med 2008: 54; 2: 135-137.
- Hypereosinophilic syndrome with isolated Loefflers Endocarditis; complete resolution with corticosteroids. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine. 2008 117-119.
- Multiple Microscopic Pulmonary Arterio-Venous Malformation. Indian J of Chest Disease.2008:237-239.
- Cryptogenic Organising Pneumonia: clinical profile in a series of 34 admitted patients in a hospital in India. J Assoc Physicians India. 2008: 229-232
- The burden of undiagnosed airflow obstruction in India. Editorial. J Assoc Physicians India. 2007:55; 547-548.
- MDR-TB in the era of HIV. Journal of Internal Medicine. 2006; 18: 4; 33-36.
- Pulmonary hyalinizing granuloma with ureteric fibrosis: a case report and review of relevant literature Indian Journal of Chest Diseases & Allied Sciences 2006; 48: 283-285
- Resection of a endobronchial hamartoma by electrocautery and argon plasma ablation via fibreoptic bronchoscope. Indian Journal of Chest Diseases & Allied Sciences 2006; 48: 217-219
- Pneumocystis carrini pneumonia in HIV infected patients from Mumbai. JAPI 2005: 53; 437-440.
- Urban Indian men have the highest prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea in the world. Chest India, 2005; 6,4: 189-191. Editorial.
- Upper airways involvement in Wegener’s granulomatosis. A case report and review. J. Indian Rheumatology Association. 2004: 12:
- Follicular bronchiolitis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis. J Indian Rheumatology Association 2004: 12: 74-76.
- IP-10 in interstitial lung disease of systemic sclerosis. J Indian Rheumatology Association 2003: 11: 2-4.
- ARDS: Predicting mortality and improving survival. J Assoc Physicians India. Editorial 2003:51: 849-850.
- Controlling TB in India; everything is not what it seems. Chest India. 2003; 4;(2) : 59-60.
- Molecular diagnosis of cystic fibrosis in Indian patients – a preliminary report. J Assoc Physicians India 2003; 51: 345-348.
- Herpes simplex esophagitis in immunocompetent individuals. Indian J Gastroenterol 2001; 20; (6); 245-246.
- Spontaneous resolution of diffuse alveolar septal amyloidosis. Indian J Chest Diseases & Allied Sciences. 2001;
- Prader Willi syndrome with sleep disordered breathing: effect of two years nocturnal CPAP. Indian J Chest Diseases & Allied Sciences. 2001; 43: 51-53.
- Lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia associated with autoimmune hepatitis. Indian Journal of Gastroenterology. 2001; 20: 76-77.
- Current anti-tuberculous drugs and protocols in MDR-TB. The Indian Practitioner. 2001; 54:3 191-196.
- Antibiotic use and abuse in the ICU ; an Indian perspective. Editorial Chest-India.
- Pneumocystis pneumonia : Taming the beast. Editorial, The Indian practitioner. 1999; 52: 9; 593-594.
- Pulmonary disorders in the 21st century. The Indian Practitioner. January 2000;53:1:25-30.
- Hepatic sarcoidosis responding to chloroquine as a steroid-sparing drug. Indian Journal of Gastroentrology 1999; 18: 177-178.
- Cryptogenic organising pneumonia presenting as bilateral non-resolving pneumonia. Current Medical Trends. July 1999; 577-580.
Asthma, COPD, Lung infection, Pneumonia, Fluid in lungs, Lung Diseases, Pulmonary Fibrosis, Chronic Bronchitis, Emphysema, Acute Respiratory Tract Infection, Lung Cancer, Pleural effusion, bronchiectasis, Sleep Problem, Sleep Disorder, MDR TB, XDR TB, TB, TDR TB, bronchoscopy, ILD, Pulmonary infections, Difficult asthma, Sleep disorders, COVID