A cancer researcher by experience and a veterinarian biologist by training, Ramadevi Nimmanapalli is now busy setting up a faculty of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Benaras Hindu University in Varanasi. “This is the start of my administrative career,” Ramadevi claims. She has the important responsibility of reviving the faculty that has existed for a long time — it even boasts of a dairy farm on the main campus but has remained academically dormant for many years. Ramadevi returned to India in 2015 from the U.S., leaving behind a research career for this important and challenging task. Under her leadership as Dean, the faculty is welcoming new batches of B.Sc students in several veterinary sciences and animal husbandry specialisations. A new research-ready campus in nearby Mirzapur is being set up for M.Sc and Doctoral students.
Challenge
Hailing from Tamil Nadu, Ramadevi started her academic pursuits with a B.Sc from Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University in Hyderabad. At Indian Veterinary Research Institute, near Bareilly she was an M.Sc topper before moving on to the University of Oxford in England for a Ph.D. But for toppers too, research can prove to be challenging. She says of her time studying the microbiology of bluetongue virus that infects cattle and deer: “It wasn’t easy to go from IVRI, which is a top notch veterinary institute in India, to Oxford. There were lot of shocks. The standard of education was different. My Ph.D. was in hardcore biochemistry. Indian veterinary science or medical science courses don’t go in-depth. To catch up was not easy.”
Shifting interests
Moving to the U.S. after her Ph.D, her research interests shifted to human cancers and went as far as studying the chemical pathways for the drug Gleevac. The common link though has remained biochemistry. She taught at Tuskagee University, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and MD Anderson Cancer Center before returning to India. In the last few years, Ramadevi has been getting a taste of research life in India for the first time. One of her newest publications with her students, dealing with characterisation of dahi — Indian curd — sits on the top of her file of 40 published research papers. When she moved back to India, Ramadevi brought with her new skills and the straightforward attitude she developed living abroad. She has worked hard to set up the new faculty and it hasn’t been easy.
The author is a science writer and part of The Life of Science project. To know more about women scientists in India and their research, visit thelifeofscience.com
