EDUCATION 1990    -              MBBS                           Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 1998    -              MD                              Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 2008    -              PhD                              National AIDS Research Institute / Pune university   FELLOWSHIP /COURSES 2004    -           Fogarty fellowship      HIV Genotyping Laboratory,                                                             The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, U.S.A. 2019 (Nov-Dec)- Advance Course in Strategic Management at College of Defence Management, Secunderabad                            RESEARCH PROJECTS Ongoing while at AFMC, Pune (till 30 Apr 2021) ICMR multi-centric antimicrobial resistance surveillance network project: PI for “Regional Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network: AFMC, Pune” CDC- AIIMS, Delhi - ICMR collaborative project - "Capacity Building and Strengthening of Hospital Infection Control to detect and prevent antimicrobial resistance in India": PI for AFMC, Pune. NCCS (DBT), Pune - AFMC collaborative project – “Genome sequencing of SARS Corona virus 2 from clinical samples”:  PI for AFMC, Pune. NCCS (DBT), Pune - AFMC collaborative project – Biobanking of PBMC and plasma from SARS Corona virus-2 infected and convalescent patients: PI for AFMC, Pune. NCCS (DBT), Pune - AFMC collaborative project – “Characterization of antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 convalescent individuals": PI for AFMC, Pune. NCCS (DBT), Pune - AFMC collaborative project – Generation of human monoclonal antibodies against SARS-COV-2 virus as a therapeutic strategy to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-worker from AFMC, Pune. NCMR-NCCS (DBT), Pune - AFMC collaborative project - Research and development for containment of antimicrobial resistance:  PI for AFMC, Pune. Completed PhD Thesis topic: Detection of primary and / or secondary mutations in HIV-1 and their relation with resistance to antiretroviral drugs amongst naïve and antiretroviral drug treated Indian population. Department of Biotechnology (DBT) project 2008: Association of human leucocyte Antigen with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and their correlation with T-cell immune activation markers. Armed Forces Medical Research Committee (AFMRC) projects Study on distribution of lower respiratory tract infections in patients with malignancies and post-transplantation patients using multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction test in a tertiary care centre. Assessment of T-cell immunoregulatory cytokine patterns and non-invasive markers for liver fibrosis in treatment naïve chronic hepatitis B-virus related liver disease patients and correlation of immunoregulatory cytokine patterns in response to antiviral and interferon therapy. Study of Hepatitis B virus genotype distribution and prevalence of cancer predicting precore and basal core promoter mutations in Hepatitis B infected patients. ICMR / MUHS STS projects 2010: Prevalence of occult hepatitis B amongst Indian human immunodeficiency virus infected individuals: A pilot study. (Guide) 2009: Correlation of CD4-positive lymphocyte count with total lymphocyte count, hemoglobin and erythrocyte sedimentation rate in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease, as surrogate markers in resource-limited settings. (Guide) AWARDS 69th Armed Forces Medical Research Conference (Feb 2021) – Best Med J Armed Forces India Papers award for the year 2020 titled – “Immune activation markers in individuals with HIV-1 disease and their correlation with HIV-1 RNA levels in individual on antiretroviral therapy” (Corresponding author). 60th Armed Forces Medical Research Conference (Feb 2012) - Best completed AFMRC project in the field of Pathology and Allied Specialties for the year 2011 titled - “Assessment of T-cell immunoregulatory cytokine patterns and non-invasive markers for liver fibrosis in treatment naïve chronic hepatitis B-virus related liver disease patients and correlation of immunoregulatory cytokine patterns in response to antiviral and interferon therapy” (Principal worker). 61st Armed Forces Medical Research Conference (Feb 2013) - Best completed AFMRC project in the field of Pathology and Allied Specialties for the year 2011 titled - “Emergence of Drug resistance in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Type 1 infected patients at the end of 12 months of first line antiretroviral therapy initiation” (Co-worker). Chief of Army Staff Award for best-published article titled - “Profile of primary resistance in human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infected treatment naive individuals from western India” (Third author) in the field of Pathology and Allied Specialties for the year 2009. Chief of Naval Staff Award for best-published article titled - “Familial Aggregation of Autoimmune Thyroiditis in First-Degree Relatives of Patients with Juvenile Autoimmune Thyroid Disease” (Second author) in the field of Medicine and Allied Specialties for the year 2004.   IMPORTANT CONFERENCES/MEETINGS ATTENDED  "COVID-19 and the beginning of a new Era” [E CME] conducted by Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital & research center, Mumbai, India (21-22 August 2021). Session on 21 August 2021- The Immune System and the genes: who played spoilsport and why? and Targeting the Immune system: hits and misses and now where do we aim? (Panelist). Emerging and re-emerging Paediatric Infections: Strategies for the future held at AFMC, Pune (10-11 Aug 2019). Session – Emerging Diagnostic Challenges; Topic – Microbiological diagnostics in clinical practice: Learning a new language (Guest speaker). International Consultation on Research to Combat Nipah Virus Disease held at New Delhi (06-08 August 2018). MoHFW, GoI & WHO (Nominated delegate from Armed forces). XII Joint Annual Conference Indian Society for Malaria and Other Communicable Diseases & Indian Association of Epidemiologists held at AFMC, Pune (1-3 September 2017). Session - Catch them early, newer techniques in diagnostics; Topic - Recent advances in diagnostics (Guest speaker).  CME: Hospital Infections 2013 held at AIIMS, Jodhpur (December 13-14 2013). Topic - Applied molecular techniques in diagnosis & infection control (Guest speaker). TNI-AFMS-USPACOM Pandemic Influenza Medical Surge Workshop held at Jakarta, Indonesia (August 04-06, 2009). Topic - Infection control and worker safety: non-pharmaceutical protection (Instructor / Speaker).  HIV/AIDS Treatment and Care Workshop held at Command Hospital (Southern Command), Pune (April 26-29, 2007). Collaboration between AFMS and US Centre of Excellence. Topic - Natural History and Classification of HIV Infection (Guest Speaker). International Conference on Molecular and Cellular Biology & Therapeutics of HIV and associated viral infections held at University of Hyderabad, India (January 12-14, 2007). Monitoring Drug Resistance (Jan 14, 2007; Skill session-I). Topic - HIV drug resistance testing (Guest speaker). WHO Inter-country workshop on HIV drug resistance monitoring held at National AIDS Research Institute, Pune. (August 7-11, 2006). Topic(s) - Antiretroviral drug resistance testing; Designing of HIV drug resistance laboratory & safe practices (Advisor for the workshop; Faculty speaker). AIIMS Golden Jubilee Celebrations- HIV/AIDS and TB: Past, Present and Future: 2006. (January 13-16, 2006). Topic - Care issues in HIV – Drug resistance in HIV (Panelist). National Consultation on Drug Resistance in Malaria, TB & HIV/AIDS. Organized by: Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, Mumbai; In collaboration with: US Department of Health & Human Services (September 19-21, 2005). Topic - Antiretroviral drug resistance testing (Guest speaker).   TEACHER / EXAMINER MD / DNB – (a) National Board of Examiners (b) Maharashtra University of Health Sciences; (c) Delhi University; (d) King George Medical University, Lucknow; (e) Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka. MBBS – (a) Symbiosis International (Deemed University); (b) Maharashtra University of Health Sciences; (c) AIIMS, Bhubaneswar; (d) Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi.   REVIEWER FOR INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL JOURNALS International PLOS ONE, San Francisco, CA, USA Clinical Infectious Diseases, Boston, USA. Journal of Virological Methods; Elsevier, Amsterdam. Journal of Medical Virology; Wiley, USA. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, USA. Clinical Research in HIV/ AIDS, California, USA   National        Medical Journal of Armed Forces of India (Member of Armed Forces Editorial Advisory Board; Jun 2016 - Apr 2021). Indian Journal of Medical Research. Indian Journal of Pathologists and Microbiologists. Indian Journal of Medical Microbiologists Virus Disease (Springer)