JIPMER gets New Director in Eminent Gastroenterologist Dr Rakesh Aggarwal

Puducherry: With the start of a new year, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) has found a new Director in eminent Gastroenterologist Dr Rakesh Aggarwal, who has assumed the charge on January 1.

Earlier, Dr Aggarwal was the Professor of Gastroenterology in the Sanjay Gandhi PG Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, since 1991, a press release from JIPMER said.

Dr Rakesh Aggarwal completed an MBBS course in 1983 and received his residency training in Internal Medicine MD at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, during 1984-1986. Thereafter, he completed his fellowship DM in Gastroenterology at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh during 1987-1989.

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He has obtained a masters degree in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and undergone training in research at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA, the release went on to add.

Since 1990, Dr Aggarwal has been engaged in the clinical care of patients with liver and gastrointestinal disease, teaching/training clinical fellows in the areas of gastroenterology and hepatology, and epidemiologic, clinical and laboratory research in liver diseases. Areas of his research interest include viral hepatitis, particularly hepatitis E and B, gastrointestinal infections, health economics and immunization.

He had also been a member of the WHO's Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee on Viral Hepatitis (2014-17). He has served on the SAGE's working groups on hepatitis B and on hepatitis E vaccines in the past. He serves on several national and international policy-making groups. He is also the Editor of a journal in the area of gastroenterology/hepatology, and Associate Editor of two journals.

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Earlier, Dr R P Swaminathan, Dean (Academic) and Senior Professor and former Head of the Department of Medicine, was appointed as Acting Director. He took charge of the position on 30th November 2018.

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