“The Career Catalyst: Plan, Prepare and Prosper in Life Sciences”

Mysore/Mysuru:  The two-day International Webinar entitled “The Career Catalyst: Plan, Prepare and Prosper in Life Sciences” organised by Division of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences (FLS), JSS AHER, Mysuru, was held on May 8 and 9.

The virtual event was inaugurated by Dr. B. Suresh, Pro-Chancellor, JSS AHER, alongside Dr. B. Manjunatha, Registrar, JSS AHER, Dr. S. Balasubramanian, Director (Research) and Dean-FLS, Dr. K.A. Raveesha, Professor & Head, FLS. 

Dr. J.M. Siddesha, Dr. J.R. Kumar and Dr. Raghu Ram Achar, Assistant Professors of Biochemistry, were also present.

Dr. Balasubramanian, in his opening remarks, spoke about the genesis of the courses under FLS from 2011 and mentioned about the variety of courses offered to cater to the needs for successful employment in academia, industry, research and entrepreneurial setup.

Dr. Siddesha, Organising Secretary, explained about the need and essence of subjecting students to such webinars where they are exposed to opportunities and emphasised on the importance of Basic Sciences for the professional growth and development at the global level.

Dr. Manjunatha, in the inaugural address, spoke on the importance of resource persons of diversified fields. 

Dr. Suresh reiterated that Life Sciences is anticipated as an important sector for next decade alongside Medical & Health Technology for its importance in wellbeing of the mankind. 

He also spoke about Dr. Krishna Ella’s illustrious career from being a graduate in   Agricultural Sciences and later on heading towards excelling to enable India’s first Indigenous COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN from his company Bharat Biotech. 

Giving excerpts of his discussions with people like Dr. Krishna Ella, Dr. Suresh mentioned that companies like Bharat Biotech possess immense requirement of Life Science graduates with essential skills to cater to the needs of present-day health sector. He wished the participants to use this platform as a catalyst to build their career in Life Sciences.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Raveesha emphasised on the expected outcomes of the event. The inaugural event was moderated by Dr. Raghu Ram Achar.

The webinar aimed to address the dilemma among Life Science students when they find themselves at crossroads in their career even upon successful completion of a course.

The webinar was empowered with a panel of 12 speakers (from India, Australia, Austria, United Kingdom and USA) working in different sectors; academia, industry, research and entrepreneurial setup.  Day one comprised talks by Dr. Purnima Singh, Research Associate, University of Tennessee Health Science Centre, Memphis, TN, USA; Alex Thomas, Deputy Manager, Clinical R&D, Cipla Ltd., Mumbai, India; Vivek Mishra Director & CEO, FibrohealWoundcare Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru, India; Dr. Giridhar Shivalingaiah, Medical Devise Quality Specialist, Technical Research & Development, Sandoz GmbH, Novartis Pharma,Tirol, Austria; and Dr. Sunil Parthasarathy, Technical leadAlmac GroupBelfast, Northern Ireland, UK. 

Resource persons for day 2 were as follows: Dr. Mridul Mandal, Sr. Scientist, Boston Analytical,Founder/CEO/Chief Strategist, Mandalogics, USA; Dr. Prakash S.T. Shanmugam, Senior Toxicologist, Global product safety & Toxicology, Avanos Medical Inc. USA; K.T.  Kanya, Global Document Management Coordinator, Bioclinica, India; Sunethra Derebail, Lead Patent Attorney, S&H Partners, Bengaluru; Yashad Dongol, Research Scholar, University of Queensland, Australia;  Bharath Bhat, Educator, Unacademy, India; and Harsha Ramakrishna, Associate ITS, Grain Milling, Novozymes South Asia Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru.

 In the valedictory address, Dr. P.A. Kushalappa, Director-Academics, JSS AHER, explained about the wide courses being offered to cater the needs of the employers. Also suggesting that Life Sciences would take the way forward in providing wide scope employability as it is being observed during this pandemic either in the field of diagnosis, drug discovery or vaccination. 

Dr. J.R. Kumar, Joint Organising Secretary, proposed a vote of thanks. Over 1,600 participants had registered for the event.

For the benefit of the larger audience who could not make it to the webinar, the video recording of the entire event can be accessed from JSS AHER YouTube Channel (www.shorturl.at/lCELZ ; www.shorturl.at/epP28), according to a release from Prof. K.A. Raveesha, Head, Faculty of Life Sciences, JSS AHER.