Governor appoints Lt. Gen. Madhuri Kanitkar as new VC of MUHS

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari appointed Lieutenant General Dr Madhuri Rajeev Kanitkar as the new vice-chancellor of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik

Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari appointed Lieutenant General Dr Madhuri Rajeev Kanitkar as the new vice-chancellor of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik.

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Governor is also chancellor of the universities.

Dr Kanitkar, who is serving as the deputy chief integrated defence staff in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), has been appointed for a term of five years or till attaining the age of 65 years whichever is earlier, from the date she assumes the office of the vice-chancellor, said a release issued by the Raj Bhavan on Tuesday.

Kanitkar has succeeded Dr Deelip Mhaisekar whose term ended on February 10. Dr Nitin Karmalkar, vice-chancellor of the Savitribai Phule Pune University was holding the additional charge of the post.

Koshyari had constituted a selection committee headed by Kalpesh Jhaveri, former chief justice of Odisha high court to recommend a panel of names suitable for appointment of the vice-chancellor. Prof. Randeep Guleria, director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Saurabh Vijay, secretary, medical education and drugs department were members of the committee.

Dr Kanitkar was awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) and Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM).

Kanitkar, 60, completed her MBBS in 1982 from the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune and won numerous medals as a student, including the President’s Gold Medal for best all-round student and the Kalinga Trophy for best in academics. She then went on to clear her MD in Paediatrics and later her Diplomate of National Board (DNB) in Paediatrics by 1991.

With a tenure of over 27 years, she started her career as an assistant professor in INHS Asvini, Mumbai under the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) and later moved to different colleges under MUHS for five years as an assistant professor and another four years as an associate professor.

She later took over as Professor and head of department at Command Hospital (SC) in Pune in October 2002 and held the post across different army hospitals in Pune, Delhi and Ranchi for over 14 years. In January 2017, Kanitkar took over the post of dean AFMC.

Her experience in the field of health sciences in the last 15 years starts with the post of an assistant professor in AFMC, Pune and she also spent time from January 2019 until May 2021 as a professor in Command Hospital (NC), Udhampur and Army Hospital (Research & Referral), Delhi under Delhi University. In 2008, she was conferred with the best teacher award by MUHS.