Subhash Chandra Parija currently the Vice-Chancellor of Shri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry. He is the former Director and Dean (Research) of the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry. He obtained MBBS (1977) from Utkal University, Cuttack; MD (Microbiology) (1981) from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) , Varanasi ; PhD (Microbiology)(1987); from University of Madras , Chennai . He is one of the very few Medical Microbiologists of India to be conferred DSc (Microbiology) , highest degree in research, for his contribution in the field of Medical Parasitology by University of Madras ,Chennai.Prof Parija was conferred with theDistinguished BHU Alumnus Award in the field of medical sciences during the celebration of 150 years anniversary of BHU in the year 2012.Prof Parija is listed among Top 2% scientists of the World by Stanford University consecutively since the year 2020. He has nearly four decades of teaching and research experience , contributing mainly in infectious diseases, especially parasitology, diagnostics, and public health. He is actively involved in conducting research programs on immunology, epidemiology, and simple, cost-effective diagnostic tests for parasitic diseases in the community and low resource settings. Prof.Parija and his team have contributed in clinical and diagnostic parasitology. They were the first to demonstrate and detect excreted parasitic antigens in urine for diagnosis of hydatid disease and cysticercosis, to report detection of Entamoebahistolytica DNA in the urine and saliva for diagnosis of amoebic liver abscess, document Entamoebamoshkovskii from India, evaluate multiplex PCR for simultaneous detection of Entamoebahistolytica, Entamoebadisparand Entamoebamoshkovskii in stool specimens for diagnosis of intestinal amoebiasis , and also document the subtype identification of Blastocystis in Pondicherry. Prof Parija did innovations in stool microscopy techniques by use of LPCB, KOH, wet mount preparation of stool, thick smear of stool, formalin-acetone method for concentration of stool etc. for better identification of parasitic diseases. Prof.Parija, author of more than 450 research papers, has supervised more than 85 PhD, MD and other postgraduate theses as supervisor and co-supervisor. He has 2 published patents, 3 copyrights, and one technology transfer. Prof Parija authored /edited 16 books including most popular “Textbook of Parasitology”, and the most recent “Effective Medical Communication, The A,B,C,D, E of it”; published by Springer. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, London; and International Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He is also a Fellow of many professional bodies of eminence such as the National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi ; the Indian College of Pathologists, New Delhi; the Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology, Pondicherry, and many others. He is the member of the Expert Committee of the Food and Agricultural Organization – World Health Organization (FAO-WHO) for formulating guidelines on food safety for parasites. He chaired the Committee for Pondicherry Declaration on the Identification and Detection of Entamoebahistolytica ; transferred the cost-effective diagnostic tests in parasitic diseases to the University of Parendenya, Sri Lanka under the agesis of Indo-Sri Lanka Joint program on the technology transfer. He has served in the academic, examinations and research advisory committees of many national and international institutes including the BP Koirala institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal; Colombo University, Sri Lanka, and College of Medicine & Health Sciences, Sultan Quaboos University, Muscat, Oman, and Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Malaysia. He is currently, the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Tropical Parasitology, in addition to being the member of the Editorial board of many Journals of repute. Prof Parija has founded the Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology, the only such organization in India, started Tropical Parasitology, a scientific journal in parasitic diseases, initiated IATP-quality assurance programme for parasitic diseases in India , started the post-doctoral programme in Tropical Parasitology ; currently being introduced in many premier medical Institutes across the country. He has also founded the Health &Intellectual Property Rights Academy (HIPRA), a unique body , to promote the knowledge ,study and practice health care intellectual property rights of India. He has received more than 26 awards both international and national including BPKIHS Internal Oration Award (1997) of the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Nepal , Dr BC Roy National Award (2003) of the Medical Council of India, Dr R.V. Rajam Oration Award ( 2019) and Dr.PNChuttani Oration Award ( 2007) of the National Academy of Medical Sciences ,Prof.BKAikat Oration Award ( 1998) and Major General Saheb Singh Sokhey Award (1992) of the Indian Council of Medical Research,Dr.Subramaniam Memorial Oration Award (2015 )of theIndian Association of Biomedical Scientists) ,Sri SM Ismail Oration Award (2005 ) of the Indian Association for Development of Veterinary Parasitology, Dr BP Pandey Memorial Oration Award (1998) of the Indian Society for Parasitology, Dr SC Agarwal Oration Award (2001) of the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists, Dr BP Pandey Memorial Oration Award (1998) of the Indian Society for parasitology, etc. Prof.Parija has contributed immensely towards institution building, medical education, and mentored students both undergraduate, postgraduates , PhD scholars, and young faculty to peruse their interest in research and carrier in parasitic diseases of public health importance. He conceptualized, procured the site for, and started the new campus of JIPMER at Karaikal in the year 2017.Abhijit Chaudhury, MBBS (Calcutta University), MD (BHU, Varanasi), DNB, D (ABMM) is presently working as the Professor, Department of Microbiology at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, and its affiliated Sri Padmavathy Medical College for Women at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. He started his career in Microbiology at Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Dehradun and then moved to Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal and finally from 1998, he has been associated with the present institute. He also had short stintsas a faculty of Microbiology at Medical University of St Eustatius, Netherland Antilles; SSR Medical College, Mauritius; and Oman Medical College in the intervening years.His research interests include pathogenesis of protozoan parasites, mycobacterial genomics, and biofilm infections. He was a member of the Task Force for Curriculum Development for Laboratory Technology courses by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and a reviewer for Antibiotic Treatment Guidelines published by Government of West Bengal. He has served as referee for several National and International journals like Indian Journal of Medical Research, Frontiers in Microbiology , Microbial Pathogenesis, and FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology . He has more than 25 years of teaching experience in Medical Microbiology for undergraduate and Post Graduate students and has supervised or co-supervised the M Sc, MD, and PhD work of several students. He has been instrumental in designing horizontal and vertical integrated teaching modules for the MBBS students much before the introduction of Competency Based Medical Education by Medical Council of India. He has also published more than 100 research articles in the peer-reviewed national and international journals and has been the co-editor of one book on Parasitic Zoonosis and authored seven book chapters. He is also a member of scientific societies like Indian Association of Medical Microbiology and Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology and assessor for National Medical Council (Formerly Medical Council of India) and National Assessment and Accreditation Council, India. He is the ex-Chief Managing Editor of Tropical Parasitology journal which is the official publication of Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology. He has been the recipient of the prestigious fellowship of Indian Academy of Tropical Parasitology and Dr AN Chakrabarti memorial award of Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists for the best published paper on Mycobacteriolgy.
