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AWARDS AND HONOURS

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 12/12/2019 11:27:49 AM

Virander Singh Chauhan: Recipient of Padma Shri

Virander Singh Chauhan, is a scientist and a Rhodes Scholar working in the fields of genetic engineering and biotechnology and known for his contributions to the development of a recombinant vaccine for malaria. He was honored by the Government of India in 2012 with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. Virander Singh Chauhan, born on 3 March 1950, graduated in Chemistry B.Sc from the University of Delhi in 1969 and secured his post graduation M.Sc from the same university in 1971. His career started as the faculty member of Chemistry at the St. Stephen's College, Delhi and continued his research at Delhi University. In 1974, he obtained a Ph. D. after which he moved to Oxford University, on temporary leave from the college, on a Rhodes Scholarship where he stayed till 1977. On his return from the Oxford, he resumed his duties at St. Stephen's College where he worked till 1979. In between, he had a brief stay of one year as a post doctoral fellow at the University of Georgia during 1977-78. In 1979, Chauhan joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur as an Assistant Professor and returned to Delhi University in 1982 as the Reader of the Department of Chemistry. In 1986, he was promoted as the Professor and worked there till 1988. Resigning from the university, Chauhan joined the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), a nonprofit research organization under the aegis of United Nations Industrial Development Organization as senior scientist and was entrusted the leadership of the workgroup involved in the research on Malaria. In 1998, he was appointed as the Director of the institute, a post he held till 2014. Virander Chauhan is the secretary of the Indian arm of Rhodes Scholarships UK and is a member of the selection committees of such as Inlaks, Felix and Dr. Manmohan Singh scholarships. A former president of the Society of Biological Chemists during 2009-2011, Chauhan is an elected member (1992) of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Guha Research Conference and The World Academy of Sciences TWAS. He has served as the president of Indian Peptide Society and as a member of scientific institutions such as New York Academy of Sciences, American Society of Microbiology, Indian Biophysical Society and Indian Immunology Society.