Dr. Sneh Bhargava (born 23 June 1930) is a pioneering Indian radiologist and the first — and so far only — woman to serve as Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. She received the Padma Shri in 1991 for her contributions to medicine.

Born in 1930 in Ferozepur (then in undivided India), she experienced the upheaval of Partition when her family fled to India. As a child she loved playing doctor with her dolls and siblings; later she accompanied her father to refugee camps to help those in need. She studied MBBS at Lady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi. In 1955 she sailed to London to specialise in radiology at Westminster Hospital, becoming the only woman in her class and department at a time when few Indian women pursued higher medical education abroad.

Returning to India, she joined AIIMS in the early 1960s when radiology was still a modest “backroom” service with basic X-ray equipment. Over three decades she transformed it into a full-fledged clinical specialty. She established or helped develop the departments of neuroradiology, cardiovascular radiology, oncoradiology, paediatric radiology and interventional radiology. She was instrumental in bringing the first CT scanner and ultrasound machines to India and trained generations of doctors to interpret images in the full context of the patient’s history.

In 1984 she was appointed the first woman Director of AIIMS — a historic milestone. Her first day in office coincided with the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was brought to the institute; Dr. Bhargava was involved in the emergency efforts. She served as Director until 1990 and later became Professor Emeritus.

After retiring from AIIMS she continued to work at institutions such as Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research and Dharamshila Narayana Super Speciality Hospital. She has been a Fellow and former Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences, India, and has lectured internationally on radiology education. In her mid-nineties she published her memoir, The Woman Who Ran AIIMS.

Colleagues and students remember her quiet determination. “Radiology is not just black-and-white pictures,” she would tell young doctors. “It is the window through which we see the patient’s story and decide how best to help.”

Dr. Sneh Bhargava remains an enduring inspiration — a trailblazer who elevated radiology in India, broke gender barriers in medical leadership, and continues to engage with the profession well into her nineties.