About

#ChasingVaccines #VoiceOfVisuals

“For more than two millennia, Man, Medicine & the Arts intertwined seamlessly with one another indelibly transforming human lives and society. Medical practitioners had knowledge about the working of the cell – the building block of body and brain. This awareness about the biology enabled them to harness the social dynamics of the cell. It was hence easier for them to effortlessly influence the innards of the human mind. Physicians who were polymaths in creative fields (poets, painters, illustrators, writers, musicians, essayists) were therefore more potent in influencing society, culture and reforms by their creations since the advent of the medical sciences. Physicians see things as they truly are, not hued by prejudice, pre-set beliefs, dogmas: reflecting the maxim “what your mind does not know, your eyes cannot see”. I followed in the footsteps of my ancestors. I am a physician-turned-photographer. I have amalgamated my formal education in Medicine, my arduous tutelage in Visual Arts & Photography and my academic inclination in Visual Sociology to create visual narratives in public health & social medicine. Medicine is an interdisciplinary subject. It developed my keen observation skills, instilled patience to listen to the story (history) of a subject (patient), empowered me to recognise the psycho-somatic & socio-economic influence of a disease. I have imbibed these skills in photography. In the last decade, I have endeavoured to fuse the science and art, the techniques and creative pursuit of medicine and photography. The objective has been to craft visual narratives to depict stories of Man and Medicine”.

Dr. Kaushik Ghosh (b. 1977) is a physician & imaging scientist practicing Health Science Photography for over a decade. He is narrating stories through his photographs. Stories of man and medicine. Stories of public and health. Stories of triumphs and setbacks in human lives. The photographs have been captured from the field and they relay voices of front-line workers and public from large metropolises and isolated hamlets across the country. From the fields far away to cabins of policy makers at State and National levels. He is engaged in visual documentation of India’s public health and immunization programmes for various government & non-government organizations, like Immunization Technical Support Unit, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India; National Health Mission, Government of Madhya Pradesh; State Health Society, Government of Bihar; John Snow India (JSI); Global Health Strategies (GHS); Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and UNICEF.

  • The first Indian recipient of Graduate Imaging Scientist (GIS ARPS) qualification in the field of medical and scientific photography from The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (RPS).
  • The first corresponding member from India in the Medical Group Committee, The Royal Photographic Society.
  • Received training on Graphic Design from California Institute of Arts (CalArts) and training on Health Communication from Michigan University.
  • Overseas member, International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA).
  • Conceived, developed, designed & implemented India’s (& Asia’s) first graduate course (B.Sc.) in Medical & Scientific Photography at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
  • Co-author of the book “Public Health: Musings and Anecdotes” along with Dr. Raj Shankar Ghosh (2022).
  • Commissioned health science photographer of Government of India’s “Rotavirus Vaccine: the India story”, a coffee table book released by Dr Harsh Vardhan, former Union Health Minister of India and Mr Seth Franklin Berkley, Epidemiologist & CEO of Gavi – The Vaccine Alliance on December 5, 2019, at New Delhi.
  • Commissioned health science photographer of “Bihar’s story of Routine Immunisation” –  a coffee table book released by Mr Nitish Kumar, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Bihar and Mr Bill Gates, Co-chair Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on November 17, 2019, at Patna, Bihar.
  • “Behind-the-Scenes in Child Health” – a solo photography exhibition about seven extraordinary people behind the success of India’s Immunisation program; organized by Global Health Strategies (GHS), International Vaccine Access Centre (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh and Child Health Foundation; at AIFACS Gallery, New Delhi from September 6 to 12, 2019.
  • Commissioned health science photographer of “COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out Programme in India” for Immunization Technical Support Unit (ITSU), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India (ongoing since 2020).
  • Commissioned health science photographer for pan India roll-out of Pneumosil vaccine, India’s first indigenous pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for children for MoHFW, Govt. of India and John Snow India (ongoing 2021).
  • Commissioned health science photographer for Covid-19 vaccination in Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming coffee-table book for National Health Mission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh and Clinton Health Access Initiative (ongoing 2021).