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President-elect Joe Biden’s administration has yet another connection with Tamil Nadu. Dr. Celine Gounder, an HIV / infectious disease specialist who was appointed to Biden’s coronavirus task force, traces her roots to an anonymous village in Herod’s district.
Celine’s father, Dr. Raj Natarajan Gounder, was born in Perumapalayam near Modakurichi in the Herod district and moved to the United States in the 1960s and married Nicole Gounder, a French citizen in 1972. Celine is the eldest of the three daughters of the couple and has been running a charity fund in the name of her late father in the village since 2018.
Read: Indian-American doctor Vivek Murthy named co-chair of President-elect Biden’s coronavirus task force
Biden’s running partner is Kamala Harris, whose mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, was born in Chennai and moved to the United States at the age of 19 to pursue higher education and settled there after marrying Donald. Harris, a Jamaican.
The infectious disease specialist flew to her ancestral village in August 2018 and attended the 72nd Independence Day celebrations at the government school, where her father attended school. The Trust, for the past two years, has been awarding scholarships for students who come first in the SSLC and HSC exams.
“Celine Gounder wanted to do something for her father’s hometown and so she launched this trust. The government school where his father studied now has a smart classroom, courtesy of Celine. He feels that education lifts people and thus has donated funds for the smart class. The foundation has done a great job, “said N Devaraj, Celine’s relative and secretary of the Dr Raj Gounder Foundation. DH.
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Celine also supported about 30 disabled children, Devaraj said, adding that she called personally and asked us to provide kits to these children’s families so they can have nutritious meals. During her visit in 2018, Celine also met her father’s older brother, Sengottaiyan.
Thangavelu, a resident of the village, said Dr. Raj Gounder studied at the local school up to standard eight and graduated from the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru. “The whole village is delighted that Raj Gounder’s daughter has become so great in life. He visited our village in 2018 and talked to us, “he said.
Celine also took to Twitter to share the news of the festivities in her father’s hometown village.
“I am extremely happy that @celinegounder and @vivek_murthy have been named to the US National Pandemic Taskforce to fight # Covid19,” he tweeted. “Both have made India proud and I am very happy to learn that Dr. Celine Gounder has a Tamil heritage. My best wishes to both of you,” she said.
I am extremely happy with this @celinegounder & @vivek_murthy they were assigned to fight in the United States National Pandemic Taskforce #COVID-19. They both made India proud and I am very happy to learn that Dr. Celine Gounder has a Tamil heritage. My best wishes to you both. pic.twitter.com/b6EkrmOKB8
– Edappadi K Palaniswami (CMOTamilNadu) November 10, 2020
Prime Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and opposition leader MK Stalin congratulated her on finding a place in Biden’s task force.
“I am glad to know about the appointment of Celine Gounder to President-elect Joe Biden’s national pandemic task force to fight Covid-19. Glad to know the appointment of a Tamil-born woman to this crucial task force,” Stalin said in a post on Facebook.
“Congratulations and best wishes,” he added.
Gounder is one of the members of the Covid-19 task force that will lead Biden in tackling the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed over 2.36,000 lives in the United States.
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