PGI to announce new director this month

According to Kumar Gaurav Dhawan, Deputy Director Administration, it is pure speculation that four or five names have been short-listed for the post, as there has been no disclosure in this regard. “This is up to the selection committee and the list of names finally goes to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) and of course, apart from the eligibility criterion listed for the post, there are many other considerations of the selection committee. By this month, we should know who the new director of the institute will be,” shares Dhawan.

For the past many years, the key considerations for the post include that the applicant have more than three years of service left, for the post of the director is of five years. This apart, a rich administrative, teaching, and patient care experience, research impact, academic practice, publications, extra grants, etc., are also sought. An important consideration is the H index, which measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publication.

As opposed to previous years, no panel was announced in the body meeting. The Union Minister of Health, who is also the president of the institute has been authorised to finalise names and send for approval to the ACC. Apart from Bhushan, other members of the research-cum-selection committee include Dr KK Talwar, former Director PGI, Dr Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Dr Pratima Murthy, Director, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore.