Dr Vithal Prasad Myneedu

Dr Vithal Prasad Myneedu is a medical doctor, with a postgraduate degree in medical microbiology for All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. He underwent special training in mycobacteriology at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, US in 1996, as well as Fogarty Fellowship Training in Tuberculosis and HIV through the AIDS lnternational Training and Research Programme of New York Medical School, NY US in 2002.

Dr Myneedu is currently working as Senior Microbiologist in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, TB and HIV/AIDS Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal. He worked for about 30 years as a Microbiologist, Professor and later served as Head of the Department of Microbiology at the National Institute of TB and Respiratory Diseases (NITRD), New Delhi, lndia. During his tenure at NITRD, he established a Microbiology section with services for TB diagnosis in 1990, which grew into a National Reference Laboratory under the National TB Elimination Program (NTEP) and also as a National Centre of Excellence, part of the TB Supranational Reference Laboratory Network. He was also a Member of National Reference Laboratory Coordination Committee and National Technical Expert Group on Diagnostics within the NTEP, lndia. Dr Myneedu has participated in various technical missions in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and other countries through the Green Light Committee for the WHO South-East Asia Region.

He is a recognized postgraduate teacher and postdoctoral examiner in microbiology and has more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals.