Officers of the University

The Visitor

Lieutenant General (Retd.) Gurmit Singh, Hon'ble Governor of Uttarakhand,

Known for his scholarly acumen on defense matters. He has studied at National Defense University, Washington and National Defence University, Taipei, Taiwan. He was also a research scholar on the India-China Boundary issue at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has wide range of expertise in human resource management, information technology, legal matters, etc.

From being an Infantry Company Commander he rose to the level of Deputy Chief of Army Staff. He was a part of numerous expert groups, represented the country on many occasions, participated in numerous talks regarding border issues with China besides visiting Beijing, Shanghai and other cities of China for Talks.

During 40 years of service in the Army, he has been honored with four Presidential Awards and two commendations by the Chief of Army Staff. He has also recipient of Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal.

His personal philosophy is based on the path laid down by Guru Nanak Dev Ji and Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s ‘Sach Khand Vase Nirankar and ‘Nishchiya Kar Apni Jeet Karon‘.

The President

Dr Vijay Dhasmana, the President of Swami Rama Himalayan University (SRHU) has had a prolific career spanning decades where he has been at the helm of affairs in different capacities ever since the institution’s inception and subsequent growth.

He was Vice Chancellor of Swami Rama Himalayan University from April 2013 to March 2023, and of HIHT University from 2007 to 2013.

He demonstrated a strong academic and leadership record as Vice Chancellor. And now, with his deep understanding of the educational landscape of the state of Uttarakhand and India, is poised for enhanced and crucial functions.

Besides being a member of Presidential Body of Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT) he is also a Chair-person of Swami Rama Foundation of USA, President of Swami Rama NishkaamKarmyoga Trust, General Secretary of Sadhana Mandir Trust and many more. He is also Ex-Chairman of CII Uttarakhand.

A Ph.D from Rohilkhand University, Bareilly and Masters in Mathematics from HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, Garhwal, he also attained his Masters in Computer Sciences from University of London, United Kingdom.

Dr. Dhasmana embarked his professional journey as the Treasurer of Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust and now has more than 30 years of varied experience in the field of Finance, Strategy, Administration and Education.

He possesses a strong academics and leadership record as the Vice Chancellor. Under his able leadership several departments and educational programs for medical and non-medical professionals were introduced in the state of Uttarakhand.

His deep concern about the youth migration in the hill villages of Uttarakhand, made him set up School for Vocational Studies and Skill Development at SRHU, with an aim to equip the youth of Uttarakhand with entrepreneurial skills and make them financially sustainable. He is a catalyst of “Homestay” Entrepreneur Development Program in Private University across India.

Dr. Dhasmana’s undying commitment for transforming rural lives and social service made him spearhead rural development initiatives in the field of health, education, adolescent, water & sanitation, livelihood& development, relief & rehabilitation including differently abled covering over 2000 villages in Uttarakhand and UP.

He is also recipient of many prestigious awards including ‘Dr. B.C. Roy Award’ in the field of Management – 2001, ‘Uttarakhand Ratna Award’ for his extraordinary work for the people of Uttarakhand, ‘Garhwal Vibhuti Awardard’ for Social Service - 2007, and ‘Vice Chancellor of the Year 2021 Award’ – 2021. Gadh Gaurav Samman - 2022 for providing outstanding Healthcare services.

Vice Chancellor

Dr Rajendra Dobhal, a known Intellectual Property Professional, currently is the Vice Chancellor of Swami Rama Himalayan University and Chairman of National Academy of Sciences India, Uttarakhand Chapter.

Formerly, he was the Director, Strategic Planning Research and Development, SRHU after superannuating from the post of the Director General, Uttarakhand Council of Science & Technology, Govt. of Uttarakhand. He had many other positions during his carrier like Chairman and Managing Director of National Research Development Corporation, Govt. of India; Director and Senior Scientific Advisor Biotechnology; Director, Space Application Centre; Director, Science Education and Research Centre, Dept. of Science & Technology, Govt. of Uttarakhand. He was also Technical Advisor to the Director General and Scientific Officer to the Director General, Madhya Pradesh State Council of Science & Technology, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal

A fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, he is a Council Member of UGC- Department of Atomic Energy Research Centre, Govt. of India; Counsellor Mountain Initiative; Member of Global Technology Watch Group and other various committees of the Govt. of India and others.

He has credit to have shaped Science & Technology infrastructure in Uttarakhand and AI based Science City Fifth in India. Dr. Dobhal, a widely travelled scientist has monitored over 425 research & development projects, 45 technical reports, 15 books and 175 research papers in national & international journals.

He has various awards to his credit like Royal Australian Chemical Institute Award, International Commonwealth Youth Silver Award, Uttarakhand Ratna, Uttarakhand Gaurav and Pride of Uttarakhand.

Principal – Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS)

Prof. (Dr) A. K. Deorari, MD FAMS, who was heading Department of Pediatrics at AIIMS, New Delhi is well known for his contributions to facility based neonatology in India and SE Asia. He was instrumental in conceptualizing uniform structured teaching aids for pre-service and in-service and steered development of webinars/AV lectures/teaching aids for Newborn Health. As lead person of WHO CC at AIIMS, he steered development of an online e-learning platform on Newborn Health for professionals on Moodle learning management system (LMS). In a first for Asia, he created innovative Apps on smartphones for management of ‘sick newborn.’ He assisted GOI and UNICEF in operationalization of Newborn Care. He has served in various capacities in India and abroad e.g. Consultant with WHO/UNDP /UNICEF in establishing facility based newborn care in DPR Korea, Srilanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal & Timor Leste, Technical expert with WHO HQs for ENAP metrics, UNICEF HQs and WHO Quality of Care Global Network, etc. He has also helped Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Iran and Mauritius in operationalization of CPAP & Neonatal Ventilation services. He has 250 publications, six books and multiple awards & orations. He was Chairman of UG curriculum & Skill Lab at AIIMS, New Delhi. Besides, he has steered quality improvement initiatives in India & South Asia and is developing Standard Treatment workflow for Newborn packages for Ayushmann Bharat.

Principal – Himalayan College of Nursing (HCN)

Prof. (Dr) Sanchita Pugazhendi, Professor cum Principal, Himalayan College of Nursing, is a doctorate in nursing from Manipal University, Karnataka. She holds a Master’s Degree in Community Health Nursing from Christian Medical College & Hospital, Vellore, under Dr MGR Medical University, Tamil Nadu and B.Sc. (Hons) Nursing from Calcutta University, West Bengal. In her three decades of experience in nursing discipline, she has worked in various capacities including Professor & Dean in Manipal College of Nursing, Manipal University, Bangalore. She is a life member of Society of Midwives, India, Trained Nurses Association of India & Indian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery.

In addition to her academic roles, Dr. Sanchita Pugazhendi has made significant contributions to nursing research and community health initiatives. She is an active researcher with numerous publications in national and international journals such as PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Her expertise has been acknowledged through various awards, including the Best Public Health Nurse Award by the Rotary Club of Manipal Hills and recognition for her research work, securing the Best Research Paper Award and other accolades.

Her guidance has shaped many Ph.D. scholars and postgraduate nursing students, and she frequently serves as a resource person and chairperson at national and international conferences and workshops.

Her impressive career is a testament to her dedication to advancing the nursing profession and improving community health outcomes.

Principal - Himalayan School of Management Studies (HSMS)

Prof. (Dr) Mohit Verma is a Professor & Principal at Himalayan School of Management Studies (HSMS), Swami Rama Himalayan University (SRHU). He has vast experience in academia as well as in the corporate world. Prof. Mohit Verma has more than 29 years of national & international experience out of which over 24 years is in Academics & Higher Education teaching, training, research and academic administration; and 5 years of corporate experience in Marketing and Sales. He also has undertaken overseas assignments in Dubai (UAE). He has worked with leading and renowned higher education institutions like Sumandeep Vidyapeeth Deemed to be University (SVDU), Vadodara, Gujarat, Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University (SRMU) Lucknow, UP, Institute of Productivity & Management, Lucknow, UP, Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad Dubai Campus- IMT Business School, Dubai and American University in the Emirates(AUE), Dubai. Prof. Mohit is a Post-Graduate in Business Administration with specialization in Marketing and holds a Ph.D. from University of Lucknow. His research interests include Consumer Behaviour, Green Marketing, Services Marketing, and Retailing.

Dr. Mohit Verma is an approved PHD Guide and guided many PHD research scholars and Post Graduate students Dissertations and has been an active academic and corporate trainer. He has conducted various Executive Development Programs for corporates in the area of Retail and Marketing. He has also conducted Faculty Development Programs, Seminars and published cases, articles and research papers in leading publications. As a passionate academician and administrator he has been mentor and trainer for his colleagues, students and has ensured highest quality in training, teaching, learning and student support system to help colleagues and students being transformed from potential to professionals in academics as well as in corporate world.

Principal – Himalayan School of Bio Sciences (HSBS)

Prof. (Dr) Sanjay Gupta was instrumental in setting up the School Bio Sciences at SRHU. He is a Doctorate in Biotechnology from IIT Roorkee and has a collective experience of 30+ years in academics, research & industry and was also the Head of the Department of Biotechnology & Biochemistry, SBS University, Dehradun.
He was associated with R & D work for the development of Industrial Bioreactors & Bioprocesses in Fermentation & Industrial Effluent Treatment at VAM Organic Chemicals Limited. He was a Member task force for HRD in Biotechnology in Uttarakhand (2005) Government of Uttarakhand. In addition, he is a key resource person and expert in workshops of U-COST, USERC, Uttarakhand Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) & Sparsh Ganga Board (Govt. of Uttarakhand).
With over 125 publications to his credit, in international and national journals, he has supervised 18 PhDs and completed 8 sponsored research projects of UCOST/UCB/DST. Currently, he is working on 5 sponsored research projects of UCOST/UCB, Govt of Uttarakhand. He has also edited 3 books and a number of patents.

Principal – Himalayan School of Science & Technology (HSST)

Prof. (Dr) Pramod Kumar is an accomplished academic leader with over 24 years of experience in the field. Earlier He was Dean Academic affairs at Glocal University in Saharanpur, UP, where he as been since September 2022. Prior to this, he held the position of Dean of Computer Science and Engineering at Krishna Engineering College in Ghaziabad and served as the Director of Tula's Institute in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Prof. Pramod Kumar holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering, which he earned in 2011, as well as an M.Tech in CSE from 2006. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and an Ex-Joint Secretary of the IEEE U.P. section. Through his research, he has made significant contributions to the fields of Computer Networks, IoT, and Machine Learning. He is the author or co-author of more than 70 research papers and has edited four books. He has also supervised and co-supervised several M.Tech and Ph.D. students. He has organized more than 12 IEEE international conferences and four Springer conferences both in India and abroad, which have made substantial contributions to the body of knowledge within the field. He has published over 100 patents, organized more than 15 Faculty Development Programs and workshops.

Principal in charge– Himalayan School of Yoga Sciences (HSYS)

Principal – Himalayan School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (HSPS)

Prof. (Dr) Ganesh Kumar is the Professor and Principal of the Himalayan School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (HSPS). He is a notable Pharmacy Academician with over 20 years of experience in Research, Academia, and the Pharmaceutical Industry. Previously he held the role of Professor & Principal at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, SGRR University and College of Pharmacy, Shivalik Campus, Dehradun. He is also having the exposure of R&D unit of Zydus Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Ahmedabad. He is qualified GATE scholar in 2001. His research area of interest is “Design of Novel Drug Delivery System, Target Oriented Nanoparticle, Liver targeting Delivery system, Compartment Modelling, Design of Experiments (DoE) & Quality by Design (Qbd)”. He published 86 research manuscripts in national & international journals of repute, 3 books, 8 nos of patents (design & published), more than 30 papers presented in the national and international conferences. He provided project and dissertation guidance to several research scholars pursuing PhD and M.Pharm. He was the recipient of several awards from various pharmaceutical societies. A few funded projects from UCOST and TEQIP-III have been accomplished. He was selected as President of the Association of Pharmacy Professionals, Uttarakhand State Branch as well as elected to serve as Vice President of the APTI (Uttarakhand State Branch).

Registrar

Prof. (Dr) Mukesh Bijalwan, has been associated with Swami Rama Himalayan University since 2013. A born topper since his school days, he consistently achieved first-class honors from secondary school to postgraduate studies. Dr. Bijalwan holds both M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Mathematics. He has authored 4 textbooks in Applied and Computational Mathematics and published numerous research papers in reputable national and international journals. With over 22 years of experience in higher education institutions and NAAC graded universities, He has served in various academic and administrative roles, including Deputy Registrar (Academics), Nodal Officer for the NEP 2020, NAAC and NIRF. He played a key role in inclusively establishing academic units and departments. Dr. Bijalwan has been instrumental in developing various programs and courses in accordance with the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) regulations. He has actively contributed to designing programs and academic regulations in emerging sciences, technologies, and skill development aligned with the guidelines of the New Education Policy and National Higher Education Qualification Framework.

Finance Officer

CA. Avnish Shalya has been associated with Swami Rama Himalayan University and Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (Promoting Society of SRHU) since 2009. He is a commerce graduate from Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University Agra and Fellow member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) a largest professional body of Chartered Accountants in the world with a strong tradition of service to the Indian economy in the interest of public at large.

He has completed his Chartered Accountancy in 2006 from Delhi and he is having experience of more than 22 years in the field of Financial Management, Costing, Budgeting Forecasting, Taxation (Direct and Indirect) and Auditing, during his professional career he has conducted various assignments of Statutory Audit, Tax Audit and Internal Audits of different manufacturing and service originations’ including PSU and also conducted various system/process implementation audit of various manufacturing plants of corporate houses.

Chief Librarian

Prof. Yogendra Singh has more than four decades of experience in Librarianship including about 20 years as Librarian IIT Roorkee and twelve years as Scientist in DRDO. He has won many awards including National Merit Scholar, Gold Medal in B.Lib.Sc., Fulbright Fellowship to University of Maryland, Best Librarian Award of various Library associations. He has been chairman/expert in many national and UGC bodies and also on the Library Advisory Boards of several reputed international publishers. He has 25 research papers, and three edited volumes to his credit. He has organized seven national and international conferences/workshops and 42 training workshops besides a number of bibliographic and non-bibliographic automation projects.

Director, Academic Processes & Quality

Dr. Pradeep K. Varshney did his Ph.D. from Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi University in 1997. He has 32 years of academic, research, innovation and administrative experience while working with Delhi College of Engineering (DCE-now DTU), University of Delhi, National Physical Laboratory (NPL), National Taiwan University (NTU), Taipei, LG-Elite Company, South Korea, CITM Faridabad, MRIIRS, Faridabad, MRU Faridabad and CGC, Mohali.

Dr. Varshney has worked under different capacities as Dean School of Sciences, Dean Research, Dean Doctoral Programme, Director-MRIIRC and NBA & NAAC coordinator. He has successfully completed two Govt. projects sanctioned from AICTE, New Delhi as Principal Investigator. Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India given a chance to Convene Projects Screening Meetings of Ministry of Energy Storage (MES) in 2017-18 and SUNIL Scheme of SEED Division in April – June 2023.

He has been granted/published 04 Patents in USA (2020), UK (2004) and India (2002) including 01 Copyright (2022) and filed 04 Patents in India (2021, 2022). He has more than 90 research papersin National / International Journals including Conferences /Seminars. He has guided 05 Ph.D. scholars and 05 PG students work for their dissertation work and 04 are pursuing their Ph.D. work under his guidance. He has mentored 03 startups of faculty and students and Editor-in-chief of “Allurance” annual magazine of Research & Innovation achievements.

Dr. Varshney has received fellowships-JRF, RAship from CSIR and received awards from National Physical Laboratory on “Technology Day” (2004) for the grant of Patent from UK and International Scientist Award 2020 on Engineering, Science and Medicine.

He was a member of Advisory Board of NewGen Innovation Entrepreneurship Development Cell (IEDC), member of Screening Committee and Review Committee of startups, member of Screening Committee for Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar, Ministry of Regional Labour Institute, Faridabad (2017-2020) and presently member of different committees at other Institutions.

Director HCIE

Dr. Amjad Husain currently serves as the Director of the Himalayan Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (HCIE) and as a Professor of Translational Research at the Cancer Research Institute, SRHU. He is also a co-founder of Canfinis Therapeutics and Ulo Labs, and holds board positions. Before his current roles, he was Senior Vice President of R&D and Business Development at Avesthagen Limited Bangalore, and General Manager of Research and Development at Biocon Biologics in Bangalore from 2022 to 2023. He has previously served as CEO of the Innovation and Incubation Centre for Entrepreneurship (IICE) and Founder Head/Coordinator of the Centre for Science and Society at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal from 2019 to 2022. Prior to that, he was the Director of Research at Glocal University and CEO of Glocal Technology Park from 2017 to 2019. He has also served as a Group Leader and senior scientist of Clinical Translational Science and Precision Oncology at Cellworks Research in Bangalore from 2015 to 2017. Earlier in his career, Dr. Husain was a Scientist at Harvard University from 2014 to 2015 and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University from 2010 to 2013, focusing on Bioengineering and Translational Cancer Research. During his time at Harvard, he commercialised a high-throughput drug screening platform through a Boston-based startup and advanced two anti cancer drug molecules to clinical trials with Eli Lilly & Company.

Dr. Husain holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) and JNU New Delhi, and a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. He also completed a Short Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2012 and the Healthcare Commercialization Program at Harvard Medical School in 2011.

His other achievements include publishing 35 papers in prominent international journals, delivering talks at conferences across the globe, presenting at TEDx and serving on the editorial boards of various journals and advisory to multiple companies. Dr. Husain is passionate about entrepreneurship, traveling, and mentoring students”