Fresh Appointments at NBE: Meet the new Governing body of National Board of Examinations

In a recent gazette notification issued by the Government of India, the health ministry has mentioned that in pursuance of Rule 6(i) of Rules and Regulations of the National Board of Examinations, New Delhi, the Central Government has nominated the following doctors on the Governing Body of the National Board of Examinations for a period of five years with effect from the June 16th 2021.

For the President's post, the ministry has nominated Dr Abhijat Sheth, who is currently serving as Director of Medical Services at Apollo Hospital, Ahmedabad as well as the existing President of NBE. Dr Sheth has a long and distinguished career in adult Cardiothoracic Surgery, Cardiothoracic Research and academia initially in India and then extensively in the UK. He published more than 20 peer-reviewed publications in prestigious journals e.g. Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 40 abstract presentations and 40 conference presentations at the British Thoracic Society, World Congress of Bronchology, European Respiratory Society and American Thoracic Society.

Dr Nikhil Tandon, Professor of Endocrinology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, has been nominated for Vice President of Medicine & Allied Sciences department. Dr Tandon has been on the Faculty of the AIIMS since his return from the UK in 1993. After completing his MD in Medicine from AIIMS he did his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK. His main areas of research interest are autoimmune thyroid disease including thyroid epidemiology, diabetes and metabolic bone disease; as also evaluating the impact of early life events in adult chronic disease. He has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in international and national journals, which have been cited more than 1800 times. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Science, and Fellow of the National academy of Medical Sciences. He was awarded the Dr BC Roy Award for Eminent Medical Teacher, for the year 2005.

For the post of Vice President of the Basic Medical Sciences Department, the centre has nominated Dr Minu Bajpai, Professor & Head, Department of Paediatric Surgery at AIIMS, New Delhi. Dr Bajpai's special areas of interest are surgical care of the newborn and reconstructive urology. He was a Fellow of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK and worked at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London in 1995-1996. He was awarded the Dr Kamala Menon Medical Research National Award of the Indian Council of Medical Research and is the first recipient of the Ramanna Fellowship of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.

Dr. Shiva Kant Misra, the former President of the Association of Surgeons of India and SAARC Surgical Care Society, currently serving as Director, CEO, and Chairman Department of Minimal Access & General Surgery at Shivani Hospital & IVF, Kanpur has been nominated for the Vice President post of Surgery and allied sciences division.

With over 40 years in the field of surgery, Dr. Misra is a renowned surgeon of the country who has popularized affordable minimal access surgery in the masses through missionary hospitals. Dr. Misra has been conferred with the fellowships of prestigious national and international bodies including FRCS, FACS, FCSSL, FICS, FAIS, FALS, FLCS, FIAGES, and FMAS. Dr. Misra has received many national and international awards and recognitions including Fellowship ad eundum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the fellowship of American College of Surgeons, and honorary fellowship of Srilanka College of Surgeons for his contribution to the promotion of an and science of surgery. Dr. Misra has been honoured with the ''Doctor of The Year Award-2017" and Honorary Professorship. by the Indian Medical Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel National Award for the exemplary services rendered to the society.

Dr Randeep Guleria, currently serving as the Director, AIIMS, New Delhi, has been nominated as a governing body member. He joined the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and rose in ranks to become a professor and the head of the Department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders. He is associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) member on immunization and influenza vaccination. He is a life member of the Association of Physicians of India, Indian Chest Society and the National College of Chest Physicians of India.] He is credited with efforts in establishing a centre for respiratory diseases and sleep medicine at AIIMS, which is reported to be a first in India.

Dr Rajoo Singh Chhina, the Director of Gastroenterology and Hepatobiliary Sciences at Fortis Hospital, Ludhiana has also been nominated by the centre as a member of the NBE's governing body. Dr Chhina has more than 30 years of experience in his field in which he was Dean of Academics, DMC & Hospital, Ludhiana since 2009 and Professor & Head, Gastroenterology, Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab. He did his MBBS, MD (Medicine), DM (Gastroenterology) from PGI, CDH, DM (Gastroenterology) 1989 from PGI, Chandigarh.

Dr Rakesh Sharma has been nominated as a member of the body as well. He had worked with several health care establishments in Hyderabad, and was also appointed as OSD to the President, National Board of Examination in the year 2017. Since then, Dr Rakesh has been instrumental in several initiatives undertaken by the board. For the exemplary work done by Dr Sharma, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has awarded him with the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Award in 2021.

The nominations have been made under the clauses of (i)(a), (b), (i)(m) and (i)(o) of Rule 6 (i) respectively.

The National Board of Examinations came into existence in 1975, as a wing of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and has been conducting Postgraduate Medical Examinations at the national level since 1976. The Board was registered as an Autonomous Organization under MoHFW in 1982 to conduct high standard post-graduate examinations in the field of modern medicine on an all- India basis, formulating basic training requirements for eligibility, developing curriculum for postgraduate training and accreditation of institutions where this training is imparted. The students enrolled are called Diplomates of National Board (DNB).

NBE's flagship DNB Programmes are offered in 82 disciplines and subspecialties of modern medicine, including the DNB Programme in 29 Broad, 30 super specialities & fellowship programme in 23 sub-specialities across 703 private and government institutions. NBE is encouraging Govt/PSU/Municipal/Private sector hospitals across the country to start the DNB programme to bridge the specialist gap in the country by increasing the number of Post Graduate seats using existing infrastructure and clinical resources."

Corrigendum: Dr Shiva Kant Misra's experience was wrongly written as 13 years+ experience in Gynaecology and Obstetrics. Dr Mishra is an experienced Surgeon with 30 years plus experience. The error was inadvertent and the same has been corrected in the report