Noted scientist and the director of the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, Dr. Ajay Kumar Parida passed away aged 58 in Guwahati on Tuesday.

According to reports, Parida was in Guwahati to attend a conference at Indian Institute of Technology – Guwahati (IIT-G) where he passed away after suffering a heart attack.

Amitabh Routary, spokesperson at ILS said, ““He left for Guwahati on Sunday morning from Bhubaneswar and was supposed to catch return flight at 7.30am on Tuesday. When he did not come out from his room till 6.30am his co-travellers opened the door of his room and found him unconscious. He was immediately rushed to a hospital there, where doctors declared him brought dead.”

It may be noted that Parida had been conferred with the Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of science and engineering in 2014 and has several other awards and major recognitions.

He had played an important role in the management of Covid-19 in Odisha and his works on the genome sequencing of SARS-Cov-2 virus culture and research on the behavior of coronavirus helped the state government in controlling the virus.

Parida has guided 25 students on their PhD degrees and published more than 1,000 peer reviewed publications. He has also travelled to over 30 countries.

Prior to joining ILS as the director, Parida had served as executive director of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai. He was an elected fellow of the National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (NAAS) and National Academy of Sciences of India (NASI).

He is survived by his wife and their only son.