Nirmala Joshi of the first Sisters of the institute to head a foreign mission when she went to Panama. In 1976, Joshi started the contemplative branch of the Missionaries of Charity and remained at its head until 1997, when she was elected to succeed Mother Teresa as Superior General of the institute. The government of India bestowed the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, on Sister Joshi on Republic Day (26 January) 2009 for her services to the nation. Her term as Superior General ended on 25 March 2009, and she was succeeded by German born Sister Mary Prema Pierick. Joshi
Sellappan Nirmala Medical Research, which told the prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Tamil Nadu health minister H. V. Hande. HIV subsequently became an epidemic in the country. Nirmala submitted her dissertation, "Surveillance for Aids in Tamil Nadu", in March 1987 and later joined the King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research in Chennai. She retired in 2010. Sellappan Nirmala Nirmala Sellappan (born 1952 or 1953) is an Indian doctor who discovered the first case of HIV in India in 1986. In 1985, aged 32, she was working as a microbiology student in Chennai (Madras) and for her dissertation, began collecting blood samples