Srinagar, Dec 31: J&K Government on Friday appointed Prof Parvaiz Ahmed Koul as Director SKIMS Soura, capping off the process that started earlier in December. This year, 15 candidates were in the fray for the top post.
The order issued today by General Administration Department said “As approved by the chairman Governing Body SKIMS, Soura Srinagar (Lieutenant Governor J&K), Dr Parvaiz Ahmad Koul ex-Professor and Head of Department General Medicine, SKIMS, is hereby appointed as Director Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, Srinagar with effect from January 1, 2022.”
The candidates had made a presentation before the three member selection committee on 28 December. While speaking to Greater Kashmir, Prof Koul said the presentation he made was about focusing on patient care, research and teaching at various levels as his vision for future of the Institute. “I would like to continue the good work that has been started by the previous administrators. We must improve in triple focus areas of Patient Care, Clinical Research and Academics,” he said.
He said that Kashmir’s premier-most Institute has a legacy. “The Global Burden of Diseases Study, of which SKIMS was a part demonstrates the top five causes of the most years of life lost in J&K are Ischemic Heart Disease, Road Accidents, COPD, Respiratory Infection and Stroke, in the same order as spoken. These areas need expansion of specialized care and state-of-art facilities to cater to these – cardiac, trauma, pulmonary and others. We will try to bring in meaningful research into these areas. We will be looking at the current issues also – that is COVID19.”
He said the Institute will also get online courses into the fray on the same lines as international universities of repute are doing while also building our capacities for optimal patient care.
Prof Koul is the ex-head department of Internal and Pulmonary Medicine at SKIMS Soura and currently Vice Chairman of Middle East, Eurasia and Africa Influenza Stakeholders Network (MENA ISN). He is an expert at International Federation on Aging Canada, Member GC, Indian Chest Society and has been Chief Editor, Lung India, a renowned medical journal.
Google Scholar reveals that Prof Parvaiz Koul is the most cited scientist in J&K and one of the only two medical researchers featuring in Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators published in October 2021. As per the researcher tracker database ResearchGate, Prof Koul’s current RG score is 52.45 with 413 research items.
Speaking about his vision in the research arena, Prof Koul said, “I would strongly encourage intra-mural and extra-mural research. I would like the SKIMS faculty to collaborate with institutions within J&K, outside J&K and outside the country so that the capacity is better and we are able to deliver high quality, cutting-edge research at the International level.”