Minnie M. Mathan
Minnie Mariam Mathan (née Thomas, born 1937) is a pathologist, a pioneer in India in gastrointestinal ultrastructure research and medical administrator. She pioneered studies in the pathogenesis of intestinal lesions in tropical sprue and of the rotavirus as an important cause of acute diarrhea in Indian children. Early life Mathan was inspired to study medicine and follow her father, a doctor, into surgery. Academics Mathan studied in the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore and obtained an MBBS degree from the University of Madras. She had hoped to train further in surgery at the college, but her teachers dissuaded her. She instead switched to pathology work in the laboratory, while pursuing her post-graduate and doctoral degrees from Madras University. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1983. The relatively new electron microscope, with its exponentially larger magnification capabilities compared to light microscopy, had a profound impact on biological research. Access to the instrument in 1967 at CMC led Mathan to focus on ultrastructural pathology, a new field of research in India at the time. She worked on the gastrointestinal tract and the relationships between the structures and functions in it. In 1970, Mathan moved to Boston University to study with Professor Jerry Trier.