Shyam Swarup Agarwal obtained his MBBS degree from King George Medical College (1963). He obtained his MD from KGMU (1967). He did his post-doctoral studies at the laboratory of Baruch Samuel Blumberg at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Agarwal's research areas were medical genetics and molecular biology. He was the pioneer of medical genetics and clinical immunology education in India. His research focused on DNA polymerase and its role in DNA synthesis which elucidated its stability as well as the mechanism of DNA repair. His other research areas include the seroepidemiology of malaria, childhood cirrhosis and its polygenic inheritance and antenatal screening for thalassemia incidence. He was the director of Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI-MS), Lucknow. He was former director of the Advanced Center for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC). He was an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies, namely, the Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, and the Indian National Science Academy. He was the recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1986), Ranbaxy Research Award (1999). He was the founder fellow of the Indian College of Physicians, Emeritus Professor of the National Academy of Medical Sciences.

Jagannath Ganguly obtained his DSc from university of Reading, UK (1963). His areas of specialization were biochemistry of Vitamin-A and lipids. He isolated a new pro-vitamin-A carotenoid, echinenone, and established its structure. He demonstrated that carotene is cleaved giving retinal and a series of apocarotenals, which are eventually converted to retinoic acid. This mechanism has been accepted to be the major source of retinoic acid in the animal body. He also demonstrated that Vitamin-A is required for proliferation and differentiation of cells. He was the first to show the presence of retinal-binding protein in blood and also demonstrated the malonate pathway for fatty acid synthesis. Ganguly was the recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1963), FICCI award (1978), B C Guha Memorial Lecture of INSA (1975).