The University Of Mississippi will honour Dr. Rathi V Iyer, who hails from Hyderabad, with an Excellence award, at a ceremony at the Mississippi Medical Center on 5 August 2011.
Dr. Iyer was born into a family of humble educationists, and is a product of Stanley Girls High School, Chapel Road, Hyderabad.
She is a graduate from Gandhi Medical College, Hyderabad.
She spent 30 years in research for a cure for sickle cell cancer in children, at the Children's Cancer Clinic at the Mississippi Medical Center's Blair E Batson Hospital For Children.
Sickle cell anemia is a serious condition in which the body makes crescent-shaped blood cells that are sticky and cannot flow through the veins. These blood cells block the flow of blood from organs, causing pain and organ damage.
Dr. Iyer served in Worcester City Hospital in Massachusetts, Detroit Medical Center and Children's Hospital in Detroit. She had aspired to be a surgeon, but chose to pursue Hematology Oncology instead. (INN)