MUHS gets new VC in Lt Gen Dr Madhuri Rajeev Kanitkar
Nashik: Lieutenant General Dr Madhuri Rajeev Kanitkar, Deputy Chief, Integrated Defence Staff (Medical) has been appointed as the new Vice-Chancellor of prestigious Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS).
The order to this effect was issued by the Governor of Maharashtra and Chancellor of Universities in the State, Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Tuesday.
Lt. Gen. Kanitkar's appointment will be for a term of five years, or till she attains the age of 65, whichever is earlier. She succeeds Dr Deelip Mhaisekar, whose term ended in February this year.
First person from a defense background who will lead MUHS, Lt Gen. Kanitkar will take over her new assignment from the Savitribai Phule Pune University Vice-Chancellor, Dr Nitin Karmalkar, who holds the additional charge of MUHS V-C.
Lt. Gen. Kanitkar, 60, obtained her MBBS degree from the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune, topping the university and bagging the President's Gold Medal for the best all-rounder. Commissioned in the Army Medical Corps in 1982, Lt. Gen. Kanitkar later got her MD and DNB in Pediatrics and served as the Dean and Deputy Commandant of her alma mater, AFMC, from January 2017 to May 2019. She has been awarded a VSM and an AVSM for her distinguished services. Her teaching and research experience spans 22 years. She was presented the Best Teacher Award by MUHS in the year 2008, reports IANS.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that the Chancellor and Governor of Maharashtra formed a three-member Search Committee for recommending suitable names for the post of Vice-Chancellor. Among the 35 candidates competing for the position of Vice-Chancellor (VC) of MUHS, the search committee had shortlisted 19 healthcare professionals for the prestigious post.
Lt. Gen. Kanitkar's name finally was recommended by the panel headed by retired Chief Justice of Odisha High Court Kalpesh Jhaveri. It included AIIMS Director Prof. Randeep Guleria and the Secretary, Medical Education & Drugs Department, Government of Maharashtra, Saurabh Vijay.
Commenting on her appointment, Lt Gen. Madhuri Kanitkar told Times of India that she will ensure proper teamwork and will primarily focus on rural health.
"The Indian armed forces have believed in teamwork and that is what I would try to bring to the university. To achieve this objective, I would try to bring all disciplines together to work on research and patient care," she told the daily.
She added that inculcating discipline among students and motivating them to work beyond the curriculum is also essential for the growth of the institute.
"Rural health is one of the major concerns before us. To address it, we would motivate and encourage postgraduate medical students to work in rural areas. This would bring a lot of change in rural life," she stated.
"Lt Gen. Kanitkar is known to be an extremely competent academician in medical education. Since she has been attached to health science academics and research for a long time, she will bring fresh ideas that would benefit not only the health science institutes affiliated to MUHS but also the students," said a senior functionary of MUHS.
Located at Mhasrul in Nashik, MUHS was established in 1998 and has over 400 affiliated colleges, besides a student population of around 40,000.
