Vimla Virmani

Virmani was a researcher with the Indian Council of Medical Research,^[1] and practiced as a neurologist at Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital.^[4] She was a professor of neurology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) from 1964, and head of the neurology department from 1975 to 1979.^[5][6] She was a visiting professor of neurology at the Neurological Institute in Montreal in 1969 and 1970,^[1] at Banaras Hindu University in 1973,^[1] and at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in 1979.^[3] Her research ranged widely in subjects, but often involved neuromuscular dysfunction^[7] and spinal muscular atrophy.^[8]

In 1978, Virmani became the first woman to serve as president of the Neurological Society of India.^[2] She was a founding member of the Delhi Neurological Group, a precursor of the Delhi Neurological Association.^[9] In 1975, she attended the Asian and Oceanian Congress of Neurology in Bangkok, and was national advisor to the WHO/IAMS Seminar on Epilepsy in Bangalore.^[10] She was named a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1976.^[4]

Virmani died in 1999, aged 80 years.^[2] The Vimla Virmani Award is a bronze medal and a cash prize given annually by the National Academy of Medical Sciences "for outstanding work in the field of physical and/or psychosociological rehabilitation of neurologically and/or mentally afflicted subjects".^[11] Among the recipients of the Vimla Virmani Award have been M. V. Padma Srivastava^[12] and Manas Kumar Mandal.^[13]