Dr. Abarna Thangaraj

OP Timings:

Gachibowli: Friday - 9 am to 5 pm

Kondapur: Monday, Wednesday & Saturday - 9 am to 5 pm, Thursday - 2 pm to 5 pm

Secunderabad: Tuesday - 9 am to 5 pm / Thursday - 9 am to 1 pm

I. Qualifications:

• Doctor of Medicine (DM) in Pediatric Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology – PGIMER, Chandigarh (Jan 2022 – Dec 2024)
• Visiting Fellow – Immunodeficiency and HSCT (ESID) – University Hospital, Leuven, Belgium (Sept 2024 – Oct 2024)
• Membership of National Academy of Medical Sciences (MNAMS) – National Academy of Medical Sciences, India (Oct 2024)
• Diplomate of National Board (DNB) in Pediatrics – National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences, New Delhi (June 2021)
• MD in Pediatrics – JIPMER, Puducherry (Jan 2018 – Mar 2021)
• MBBS and Internship – Madras Medical College, TN Dr. MGR Medical University (2010 – 2016)

II. Experiences:

• Visiting Fellow – Immunodeficiency and HSCT (ESID) – University Hospital, Leuven, Belgium (Sept 2024 – Oct 2024)
• Senior Resident – Department of Pediatrics – JIPMER, Puducherry (May 2021 – Sept 2021)
• DM Resident – Pediatric Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology – PGIMER, Chandigarh (Jan 2022 – Dec 2024)
• Postgraduate Resident – MD Pediatrics – JIPMER, Puducherry (Jan 2018 – Mar 2021)
• Internship / House Surgeon – Madras Medical College, TN Dr. MGR Medical University (2015 – 2016)

III. Areas of Interest:

• Rheumatological disorders- Systemic lupus erythematosus, arthritis, juvenile dermatomyositis, scleroderma, systemic sclerosis, autoinflammatory disorder, Kawasaki disease, Pediatric uveitis, APLA, neonatal lupus, childhood vasculitis like Kawasaki disease, Henosch Schonlein purpura, Takayasu arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa, ANCA associated vasculitis etc 
• Various immunological disorders- severe combined immunodeficiency, X linked agammaglobulinemia, Chronic granulomatous disease, Congential neutropenia, immune dysregulatory disorders, HyperIgE syndrome, HyperIgM syndrome, Wiskott Aldrich syndrome, common variable immunodeficiency, primary HLH, complement deficiency, Macrophage activation syndrome etc
• Recurrent fevers- periodic fever syndromes- Inflammasomopathies, early onset inflammatory bowel disease, recurrent HLH, interferonopathies, etc
• Immune-dysregulatory states (Cytokine release syndrome, secondary HLH), autoimmune disease (Autoimmune hemolytic anaemia, Evans syndrome, ITP)
• Childhood sarcoidosis, Behcet’s disease, childhood gangrene, IgG4 related disease, hypermobility syndrome, skeletal dysplasias.
• Various allergic disorders and Hereditary angioedema
• Haematopoietic stem cell transplants for immunodeficiencies. 
• Immunotherapies and Biologics

IV. Publications:

• Thangaraj A, Rawat A. Approach to a child with Primary Immunodeficiency/ Inborn errors of Immunity, Book: Primer on Pediatric Genetics. March 2025 (Book Chapter)
• Thangaraj A, Sharma Y, Vigensh P. Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus, Book: Connective tissue disease, Rheumatology clinics series, March 2025 (Book Chapter)
• Thangaraj A, Pilania RK, Hamada H, Singh S. The Legacy of Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki-A Tribute to the Legendary Japanese Pediatrician on His 100th Birth Anniversary: February 07, 2025. Int J Rheum Dis. 2025 Jan;28(1):e70074.
• Pilania RK, Basu S, Sil A, Mondal S, Thangaraj A, CV G, Dhaliwal M, Sharma S, Jindal AK, Vignesh P, Verma S, Angrup A, Naganur S, Singhal S, Rawat A, Suri D, Singh S Concurrent infections in children with Kawasaki disease: lessons learned over 26 years. Immunol Res 73, 5(2025).https://doi.org/10.1007/s12026-025-09607-8
• Pilania RK, Thangaraj A, Bhatia H, Mallick A, Sharma A, Naganur S, Singh S, Singhal M. Double trouble: thrombosis of giant coronary aneurysm with left ventricular aneurysm in child with Kawasaki disease. Coron Artery Dis. 2025 Jan 24.
• Pilania RK, Thangaraj A, Sil A, Dhaliwal M, Sharma S, Jindal AK, Vignesh P, Garg R, Aggarwal P, Kumar R, Naganur S, Rawat A, Suri D. Neonatal lupus erythematosus: 24 years of experience from a tertiary centre at Chandigarh, North India. Lupus. 2024 Dec 15:9612033241308115.
• Thangaraj A, Sil A, Goel S, Vignesh P, Rawat A, Jindal AK. Disseminated Aspergillosis in X-linked Agammaglobulinemia: Beyond the norm. J Clin Immunol. 2024 Oct 15;45(1):24. doi: 10.1007/s10875-024-01815-5. PMID: 39404906.
• Pilania RK, Nadig PL, Basu S, Tyagi R, Thangaraj A, Aggarwal R, Arora M, Sharma A, Surjit Singh, Singhal M. Congenital anomalies of coronary artery misdiagnosed as coronary dilatations in Kawasaki disease: A clinical predicament. World J Clin Pediatr 2024
• Barman P, Pilania RK, Cv G, Thangaraj A, Arora M, Singh S. Treatment intensification in Kawasaki disease - current perspectives. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2024 Oct;20(10):1179-1191. doi: 10.1080/1744666X.2024.2378900. Epub 2024 Jul 15. PMID: 38979573.    
• Loganathan SK, Mondal S, Basu S, Thangaraj A, Vignesh P, Nada R, Suri D. Membranous nephropathy with Kimura's disease: A case report and review of literature. Int J Rheum Dis. 2024 Jul;27(7):e15265. doi: 10.1111/1756- 185X.15265. PMID: 39030988.
• Pilania RK, Basu S, Dixit J, Kumrah R, Jindal AK, Thangaraj A, Nimesh R, Kaur T, Vignesh P, Suri D, Rawat A, Naganur SH, Singhal M, Prinja S, Singh S. Incidence of Kawasaki disease among children in Chandigarh, India during 2015-2019: a trend analysis. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia. 2024 Sep 10;29:100474. doi: 1016/j.lansea.2024.100474. PMID: 39310717; PMCID: PMC11416213.
• Singhal M, Pilania RK, Thangaraj A, Chaudhary H, Gummadi A, Soundararajan R, Loganathan S, Sharma A, Gupta A, Bhattad S, Jindal AK, Vignesh P, Suri D, Sandhu MS, Singh S. The value of CT coronary angiography for a comprehensive assessment of left circumflex artery in Kawasaki disease: 9 years of experience from a tertiary center. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia. 2024 Aug 23;29:100471. doi: 10.1016/j.lansea.2024.100471. PMID: 39258250; PMCID: PMC11386306.
• Thangaraj A, Basu S, Mahajan S, Rawat A, Jindal A, Suri D. All lytic bone lesions are not osteomyelitis- Think of DIRA! Rheumatology (Oxford). 2024 May 22:keae298. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/keae298.
• Thangaraj A, Arora M, Das S, Pilania RK. Onychomadesis in an adolescent male: an important clinical sign in Kawasaki disease. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2023 Aug 1;62(8):e257.
• Thangaraj, A.; Tyagi, R.; Suri, D.; Gupta, S. Infections in Disorders of Immune Regulation. Pathogens 2024, 13, 259.
• Sil A, Thangaraj A, Patro D, Bathia JN, Rao AP, Pal P, Vignesh P, Rawat A. Early Onset Polyarthritis: An Unusual Presentation of MHC Class II Deficiency. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2024 Feb 9:keae102.
• Thangaraj A, Anbazhagan J, Chandrasekaran V, Philomenadin FS, Dhodapkar R. Clinical profile of influenza virus-related hospitalizations in children aged 1-59 months: A five-year retrospective study from south India. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2023 Jun 6. doi: 10.1002/ppul.26539. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37278543.
• Dogra S, Jindal AK, Bishnoi A, Sil A, Thangaraj A, Educational booklet of Hereditary angioedema
• Karunakar P, Krishnamurthy S, Narayanasamy T, Bobbity D, Thangaraj A, Chidambaram AC. (2021). A child with tetany, convulsions, and nephrocalcinosis: Questions. Pediatric Nephrology. 36. 10.1007/s00467-021- 05230-5.
• Karunakar P, Krishnamurthy S, Narayanasamy T, Bobbity D, Thangaraj A, Chidambaram AC. (2021). A child with tetany, convulsions, and nephrocalcinosis: Answers. Pediatric Nephrology. 36.
• Kar S, Krishnamurthy S, Karunakar P, Maya M, Thangaraj A, Agarwal Y (2021). A rare cause of recurrent acute kidney injury in a 3-year-old girl: Questions. Pediatric Nephrology.
• Kar S, Krishnamurthy S, Karunakar P, Maya M, Thangaraj A, Agarwal Y (2021). A rare cause of recurrent acute kidney injury in a 3-year-old girl: Answers. Pediatric Nephrology.

V. Awards & Honours:

• Debashish Danda APLAR Scholarship award for the 2025 Australian Rheumatology Association (ARA) Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM), which will be held in Adelaide, Australia, from 3–6 May 2025.
• Travel grant award in 6th Asia Pacific Society for Immunodeficiencies (APSID) Congress and 3rd National Congress of Inborn Errors of Immunity (NCIEI) & National Forum on Pediatric Immunology (NFPI), Beijing, China, April 2025
• Best oral paper in 7th National conference of Kawasaki disease, 7th and 8th December 2024
• European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) Short term observership Grant (16 September - 19 October, 2024) of 2000 Euro and observership at Department of Primary Immunodeficiencies, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium under Prof Isabelle Meyts
• Recipient of travel grant 1000 US to attend Korean College of Rheumatology (KCR) Annual Scientific Meeting May 2024
• Recipient of Indian Rheumatology Association (IRA) Research grant award 2023 for Thesis dissertation
• 1st prize in Inborn errors of Immunity Quiz conducted in the Scientific Programme for the 6th National Conference of Indian Society of Primary Immune Deficiency (ISPID), 2022
• Hardship bursary and travel grant award in Pediatric Rheumatology European Society (PReS) 2024, Gothenberg, Sweden
• Travel grant award in Asia Pacific Society of Immunodeficiency 2023, HongKong
• Co-author for “Kawasaki disease, and not acute rheumatic fever, is now the commonest cause of acquired heart disease in children in India – lessons learnt from the Chandigarh registry 1994-2022”- received Dr. James Flett Endowment Award at the PEDICON 2024 of Indian Academy of Pediatrics held from 24th January – 28th January 2024 at Kochi, Kerala.
• Hardship bursary and travel grant award in Pediatric Rheumatology European Society (PReS) 2022, Prague, Czech Republic
• Travel grant award for the 26th Asia Pacific League of Association for Rheumatology Congress 2024, Singapore

VI. Delivered talk in National conferences (as a speaker):

• Delivered a talk as a faculty in Global Initiative of Academic Network (GIAN) course, scheduled from March 22-26, 2025, Chandigarh. Treatment Intensification in Kawasaki disease: when, why and how
• Delivered a talk as a faculty in CME conducted by Associated of Pediatricians city beautiful, Chandigarh (Branch of IAP)- Treatment of infants with Kawasaki disease

VII. Presentations in National and International conferences:

• Oral presentation in 21st Malaysian society for Allergy and Immunology Conference and Annual general meeting held in conjunction with 4th Asia Pacific Society for Immunodeficiencies Congress (APSID)- Diagnosis of inborn error of immunity by whole exome sequencing in an Indian child with unusual fungal infection
• Oral presentation in 2nd National Conference of HAE Society of India (HAESICON)
• Oral presentation in International Society of Systemic Auto Inflammatory Disease (ISSAID) winter school 2022- Varied clinical phenotype of an autoinflammatory disorder- A tale of 2 children with recurrent fever from North India
• Oral presentation in 6th International conference of Indian Society of Primary Immunodeficiency (ISPID) 2023- Clinical profile of Mendelian susceptibility to mycobacterial diseases due to IFNGR1 and IFNGR2 defects– Our experience from North India
• Oral presentation in 21st National Conference of Pediatric Rheumatology (NCPR) 2023- Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome in pediatric lupus-clinico- laboratory manifestations and long-term follow-up at tertiary care centre from North-West India
• Oral presentation in 6th Indian society of Kawasaki disease 2023- CT coronary angiography is the preferred imaging modality for left circumflex coronary artery in children with Kawasaki disease: 9 years of experience from a tertiary centre in North India
• Oral presentation in Korean College of Rheumatology (KCR) 2024- Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome in pediatric lupus --clinico-laboratry manifestations and long-term follow-up at tertiary care centre from North-West India
• Oral presentation in 39th Annual Conference of Indian Rheumatology Association, (November 21- 24), Bangalore, India- Gene expression profiling of Kawasaki disease in north Indian children: a real-time PCR based study- the first of its kind from the Indian subcontinent
• Oral presentation in the 7th National conference of Kawasaki disease- 7th and 8th December 2024- A Real-Time PCR based gene expression profiling study of Kawasaki disease in North Indian children: Implication for targeted therapy.
• Poster presentation in the Scientific Programme for the 6th National Conference of Indian Society of Primary Immune Deficiency (ISPID)- A tale of 2 children with necrotizing skin lesions and neurological complications – Two facets of a genetic disorder
• Poster presentation in Pediatric Rheumatology European Society (PReS) 2022- pan coronary artery involvement in Kawasaki disease: a unique radiological entity on computed tomography coronary angiography
• Poster presentation in 20th National Conference of Pediatric Rheumatology Society (NCPR) 2022- Neonatal lupus erythematosus – Al lesson learnt over 11 years
• Poster presentation in 37th annual conference for Indian Rheumatology Association (IRA)2022- Pan Coronary Artery Involvement in Kawasaki Disease: A Unique Radiological Entity on Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography 12. Poster presentation in Asia Pacific Society of Immunodeficiency school (APSID), Hong Kong, 2023- A tale of 2 children with necrotizing skin lesions and neurological complications – Two facets of a genetic disorder
• Poster presentation in 7th International conference of Indian Society of Primary Immunodeficiency (ISPID) 2024- Clinical spectrum of inflammasomopathies – Our experience from Northern India
• Poster presentation in the 26th Asia Pacific League of Association for Rheumatology Congress 2024- Unwinding the genetic background of Kawasaki disease- a real-time PCR-based study of 15 genes from North India
• Poster presentation in the Pediatric Rheumatology European Society (PReS) 2024 and Young investigator meeting- A genetic insight to the etiopathogenesis of Kawasaki disease- a real-time PCR based study of 15 genes in North Indian children
• Poster presentation in European society of Immunodeficiencies (ESID) conference 2024- A clinical-molecular profile of patients with neutropenia: our experience at Chandigarh, North India

VIII. Memberships:

• Member under junior category in European Society for Immunodeficiency Diseases (ESID)
• Junior member of Asia Pacific Society for Immunodeficiencies (APSID)
• Pediatric Rheumatology European society (PReS)
• Indian Society of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases (ISPID)
• Indian Rheumatology Association (IRA)
• Life member of Indian society of Kawasaki Disease (ISKD)
• Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP)
• Member of Asia Pacific League of Association for Rheumatology (APLAR) young rheumatologist
• Pediatric Rheumatology Society of India (PRSI)
• Life member of Hereditary Angioedema Society of India (HAESI)