Dr. Vasant Padbidri (2003 – 2015)

Former Director, National Institute of Virology, ICMR, Dr. Padbidri was the Director of KEMHRC for a period of 12 years. During his professional life, he served on the Ethics Committee of the National Institute of Virology, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, and the National AIDS Research Institute, and was on the Scientific Advisory Committee of two ICMR research institutes. He was also a member of the Biomedical Research Board of the ICMR.

Dr. Padbidri was awarded a one-year WHO Fellowship to work at Rocky Mountain Laboratory in USA, where he helped develop a new diagnostic kit for Rickettsial diseases in India. He was later appointed a member of the ICMR Expert Group on Rickettsial Diseases, and was also a Consultant for the workshop on ‘Standardisation of Japanese Encephalitis Surveillance in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India & Nepal’.

With over 75 publications in national and international journals, Dr. Padbidri has been a member of various national committees, including Life Member of Association of Microbiologists of India, the Indian Virology Society, the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists, and the Maharashtra Association for the Cultivation of Science.