Surinder Singh Bakhshi | |
|---|---|
 Bakhshi in 2022 | |
| Born | 1937 (age 86–87) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda |
| Occupation | Medical officer of environmental health to Birmingham area (appointed 1977) |
| Years active | 1974–2003 |
| Known for | Managing community containment of smallpox during the 1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Physician |
| Field | Public health |
| Institutions | Birmingham Area Health Authority |
Surinder Singh Bakhshi (born 1937) is a British writer and physician, who in 1977 was appointed medical officer of environmental health to the Birmingham Area Health Authority, where he led the successful contact tracing and quarantine effort in the community during the 1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom.
Bakhshi received his medical degree from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. After completing house jobs he worked at a hospital by the Zambezi in Zambia, before moving to the United States, where he held a Rockefeller Fellowship in public health at the University of Michigan. In 1974, after a medical posting that involved managing an outbreak of cholera among refugees from Mozambique, he moved to England and in 1977 was interviewed for a medical officer appointment in Birmingham. In addition to his efforts in containing smallpox, he dealt with other outbreaks in Birmingham including hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningitis and typhoid.
In retirement, Bakhshi published Tuberculosis in the United Kingdom: A tale of two nations (2006) and Sikhs in the Diaspora: A Modern Guide to the Practice of Sikh Faith. A Knowledge Compendium for the Global Age (2008).