The Pioneer of Nuclear Medicine Who Never Left Agra: The Story of Dr. Daya Kishore Hazra

In the historic city of Agra, Daya Kishore Hazra was born into a family already steeped in healing. His father, Dr. J.N. Hazra, was a respected homeopath who later became a spiritual guide in the Radha Soami tradition. Young Daya studied at St. Peter’s College, one of Agra’s oldest and finest schools, and went on to graduate in medicine from Sarojini Naidu Medical College in the same city.

Seeking deeper knowledge, he travelled to London for advanced training in endocrinology and nuclear medicine. There he refined his skills in the emerging science of using tiny amounts of radioactive materials to diagnose and treat disease. In 1970 he returned to his alma mater and remained at Sarojini Naidu Medical College for the next three decades, rising through the ranks until his retirement around 2000, when he was honoured as Professor Emeritus. He later served as Dean of the Indian College of Physicians and has continued as Head of Nuclear Medicine at the Boston Medical Centre in Agra—a centre with deep family roots.

Dr. Hazra is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of nuclear medicine in India. He made important contributions to radioimmunoassays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays—techniques that allow doctors to measure hormones and other substances in the blood with great precision. His work advanced the monitoring of hypothyroidism and the analysis of key thyroid hormones, T3 and TSH. He also explored radio-bioconjugate therapy, using isotopes to target cancerous cells. Beyond the laboratory he published extensively on obesity, the effects of iodized salt, diabetes and related endocrine disorders, always grounding his findings in careful clinical observation.

In 2014 the Government of India conferred upon him the Padma Shri for his contributions to medicine. The honour recognised a lifetime spent building nuclear medicine and endocrinology in a single city that he never abandoned.

One quiet afternoon in Agra, after seeing patients and reviewing assay results, a younger colleague asked him, “Sir, you trained in London and could have worked anywhere. Why did you choose to stay in Agra all these years?”

Dr. Daya Kishore Hazra answered with the calm of a man who had measured both hormones and the value of home.

“London taught me the science, but Agra taught me the patients,” he said. “Nuclear medicine is powerful only when it reaches ordinary people. If we can diagnose thyroid disease accurately, if we can use isotopes carefully to help those with cancer, then the work belongs here—where the need is real and the roots are deep. This city gave me my beginning; I simply stayed to give something back.”

And so the physician from Agra who brought advanced nuclear medicine and endocrinology to his hometown, who helped establish precise hormone testing in India, and who continues to practise and teach in the city of the Taj, remains a quiet embodiment of science rooted in place and service rooted in lifelong commitment.