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 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 and having them tested for HIV; among them were the first samples collected in India to test positive. Nirmala was raised in a traditional Indian family and encouraged to go into medical research by her husband. She had the idea of researching the virus from her mentor, Professor Suniti Solomon, in response to formal tracking