The Department of Clinical Research (now renamed as Department of Respiratory Medicine) was initiated by Prof. R. Viswanathan around 1956, when the Clinical Research Centre's building was ready. Prof. Vishwanathan alongwith Dr. D.N. Shivpuri started work on the problem of bronchial asthma. This fundamental work has drawn the attention of physicians all over India and now there are dozens of centers, government as well as private, which are carrying out this work along the path and the direction shown by the Institute