Pune: Maj Gen Rajiv Mohan Gupta, MBBS, MD (Microbiology), DNB (Pathology), PhD (Virology), MPhil, MNAMS, assumed the appointment of Dean and Deputy Commandant of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune, recently.
He is an alumnus of AFMC from the 1979 (R) batch. He was commissioned into the Army Medical Corps in December 1983. He is a microbiologist and a virologist who has done his Post Graduation in Microbiology from AFMC Pune in 1990 having stood first in Pune University and PhD in virology from AIIMS, New Delhi, in 2004.
He has earlier been an associate professor and professor at the Department of Microbiology at AFMC and also a professor and consultant (Microbiology) at Army Hospital (Research & Referral), Delhi. He has guided a large number of postgraduate students and is a recognised postgraduate teacher and examiner and MCI inspector in microbiology. He has a vast professional and teaching experience of more than 21 years. He also has a large number of publications and has authored chapters in various textbooks. His special areas of research in virology including retrovirology, molecular epidemiology and application of molecular diagnostic techniques to clinical infectious disease diagnosis and follow-up. He has been a speaker at various national and international conferences. He is credited with having set up the first virology and molecular biology laboratory in Command Hospital (Northern Command).
The General Officer is a thorough professional and an able administrator. He has the distinction of having been nominated for the National Defense College in the year 2013. The officer has commanded the only tertiary care Command Hospital providing combat surgical and medical care in the Operational Northern Command. He has also held prestigious staff appointments of Deputy Director General Medical Services (Information Technology) and Deputy Director General Medical Services (Personnel) in the Directorate General of Medical Services (Army) at New Delhi.
For his dedication and committed service to the organisation, he has been awarded the Chief of Army Staff Commendation twice. He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM) by the President of India in 2016 for his exemplary service and contribution to scientific research.