Core Competencies of a Veterinary Graduate

Dr. Subhash Verma has an extensive 25-year career in various professional capacities. Currently positioned as a professor of veterinary microbiology and heading both the veterinary parasitology department and the veterinary emergency response unit-north zone at the Veterinary College in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India, he also serves as an associate editor for an international journal. Formerly, he led the fisheries department for approximately five years at Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar (CSK) Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University. After completing his undergraduate veterinary degree, Dr. Verma pursued a master's in veterinary microbiology, followed by a second master's in immunopharmacology with distinction at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, under a British Chevening Scholarship. He obtained an Overseas Research Scholarship for a Ph.D. in Immunogenetics from the University of Glasgow and conducted a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Wellcome Centre of Molecular Parasitology, Glasgow. Recognized as a Fellow of the National Academy of Veterinary Sciences, India, Dr. Verma has significantly contributed to scientific research. His achievements include deciphering cattle antibody diversity mechanisms, pioneering the functional assessment and mapping of cattle activation-induced cytidine deaminase, characterizing virulent determinants, and developing an indirect ELISA for P. multocida. He also played a key role in creating and characterizing the AprV2 nanovaccine against Footrot. His research output comprises numerous high-quality papers, books, book chapters, manuals, sequences and microbes submitted to international and national repositories.

Prof. Yashpal Singh Malik is serving as the Dean of the College of Animal Biotechnology, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, India. He is a recipient of the prestigious position "ICAR National Fellow" at the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute. His areasof expertise are rotaviral diseases, viral disease epidemiology, microbial biodiversity, host-virus interactions, and pathogen-diagnostics. He has pursued advanced studies in molecular virology at the University of Minnesota, USA; University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; and Wuhan Institute of Virology, Wuhan, China. Prof. Malik is serving as the chair picobirnavirus family at the World Health Organization. He is the recipient of several prestigious national, state and academy awards and honours, including the ICAR-Jawaharlal Nehru Award. He has authored several books and book chapters, and various research and review articles. Prof. Malik has been associated with societies of international repute, like, the Secretary General of the World Society for Virology, Federation of Asian Veterinary Association, World Veterinary Association, International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses and at national level serving as Secretary General of Indian Virological Society. Prof. Malik is the series editor for Springer's "Livestock Disease Management" book series. He is the Editor-in-Chief of various journals. He has been awarded a prestigious Fellowship by the Academy of Microbiological Sciences, National Academy of Veterinary Sciences and National Academy of Dairy Sciences.

Dr. Geetanjali Singh is professor and head in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry, Dr GC Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur, India. She has earlier served as an assistant professor of animal nutrition & a veterinary officer in the government sector. She was a visiting associate professor at University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and eco development specialist in Indo German Eco Development project run by Indian and German Governments in lower Himalayan region of India. After graduating as a vet and specializing in animal nutrition she pursued her Masters in Applied Biomolecular Technology from University of Nottingham, UK and PhD in Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Glasgow, UK. Her research interests include early biomarker of diseases & biochemical and molecular characterization of native animal breeds. She has been conferred with various prestigious awards notably, Commonwealth Award by the Department for International Development, United Kingdom, Wellcome Trust Value in People Award, Rapid Grant for Young Investigator by Department of Biotechnology India and Woman Scientist Award by Indian Society for Veterinary Immunology and Biotechnology etc. She is on the panel of mentors of commonwealth students and has worked as principal investigator and co-principal investigator in many research projects. She has more than 20 years of teaching experience in the field of Veterinary Biochemistry and Animal Nutrition. She has published in the peer-reviewed journals and co-authored books and book chapters.

Dr. Prasenjit Dhar is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Dr GC Negi College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India. His research interests are in molecular diagnosis of viruses of companion animals and microbiology of fishes. He has served as referee for a number of journals. He has served in the state animal husbandry department as well and worked as a subject matter specialist in regional research station of Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur. He has more than 20 years of teaching experience in Microbiology, Virology and Immunology. He has also published more than 50 research articles in peer-reviewed Indian and International journals. He is a member of various associations like IAVMI, IAAVR, IVS, ISACP etc.

Dr. Amit Kumar is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology. Dr GC Negi College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur since Jan, 2009. He has a special interest in Veterinary Orthopaedics (Biological Osteosynthesis), Diagnostic Imaging (Endoluminal Imaging) and development of field friendly balanced anesthetic protocols in animals. He had handled 7 research projects so far as either PI or Co-PI. He has guided 7 postgraduate students as a major advisor and 6 are working under him at present. He had published 66 research and clinical articles so far and attended 17 National and 1 International conferences. He has also contributed in 12 professional books/manual/compendium & bulletins.