Mahendra Pal

Mahendra Pal
Ex-Professor of Veterinary Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine
Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Biography

Prof. Dr. Mahendra Pal born on April 10, 1946 in Delhi, India, is an internationally known personality in the field of Veterinary Public Health, and Mycology. He worked at Massey University, Palmerstone, New Zealand (1984), Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium (1985-1986), and Tokyo University, Japan (1989-1990). Prof. Pal acted as Advisor of over 67 students for D.V.M., M.Sc., M.V. Sc., and Ph.D. degree both in India, and Ethiopia. He served in Veterinary and Medical Institutes, and published over 510 papers in national and international journals. Prof. Pal has published many papers in collaboration with the scientists of Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, USA, Nepal, and Ethiopia. Prof. Pal has authored “seven books” including "Zoonoses", "Veterinary and Medical Mycology" and “Waste Treatment Technologies”, which are highly appreciated by veterinary and medical scientists. He has developed sunflower seed medium (Pal's medium) in 1980, “PHOL” (Pal, Hasegawa, Ono, Lee) stain, in 1990, “Narayan” stain in 1998 and “APRM” medium in 2015, which are proved very useful for the study of fungi, implicated in various clinical disorders of humans and animals. Prof. Pal is credited to elucidate for the first time in the world the etiologic significance of Cryptococcus neformans for the first time with mastitis of goat (1975) and buffalo (1980), Nocardia asteroides in corneal unlcer of cattle (1982), Apergillus fumigatus in keratitis of buffalo calf (1983), Candida tropicalis in human lung empyema (1987), Fusarium solani in corneal ulcer of buffalo (1992) and Trichophyton verrucosum in dermatitis of barking deer (1993). Prof. Pal established for the first time the prevalence of Cryptococcus neoformans in the environment of New Zealand, Nepal, and Djibouti. He described for the first time the etiologic role of Candida albicans, and Trichophyton verrucosum in mastitis and dermatitis of camel, respectively in Ethiopia. Prof. Pal is serving as Honorary Member/Associate Editor/Editor of many peer reviewed international online journals. He is the “First Asian” who was appointed as “Deputy Editor” of Mycoses, an International Journal of Medical and Veterinary Mycology, published from Germany. Prof. Pal is the “First Indian Veterinarian” who received “JSPS Research Scientist Fellowship” to work at Tokyo University, Japan. Based on his long, pioneer and rich contribution in Veterinary Science, he was conferred “Fellow Award” by the Korean Society of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and by National Academy of Veterinary Science, New Delhi, India. Prof.Pal’s biography is published in Who’s Who in World, Who’s Who in Science, and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering. His papers are frequently cited as reference by many academicians in their papers, reviews, books, and monographs. Prof. Pal started M.V.Sc. and Ph.D. in Veterinary Public Health at Veterinary College, Anand, India. He was also instrumental to start Ph.D.in Veterinary Public Health at Addis Ababa University for the First Time in Ethiopia. He has helped several Medical Colleges in India to start Medical Mycology. Prof. Pal is a recipient of several awards, including "Jawaharlal Nehru Award", "Distinguished Teacher Award", and “Life Time Achievement Award". He is working as Honorary Consultant of Veterinary Public Health, and Microbiology. Very recently, Indian Association of Veterinary Public Health Specialists (IAVPHS) has instituted an Award in the name of Prof. Pal to remember his notable, significant, and pioneer contribution in Science. The name of Award is “Prof. Mahendra Pal Zoonoses Award”, and this award is given every year to a Scientist who has done outstanding research work in the field of zoonoses (animal diseases communicable to human beings). Considering his immense and long lasting contribution in fungal diseases, Prof. Pal is known as “Father of Veterinary Mycology in India”.