CHANDIGARH: Dr Neelima Dhingra , Assistant Professor, University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences , Panjab University, Chandigarh was awarded with “Savshreth Divyanjan” award 2022 on 3rd of December by President of India Smt Droupadi Murmu. The award coincides with International disability day being observed on 3rd December.
Dr Neelima was selected for this award by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, under the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities , for her outstanding achievements in the field of education, research & extra co-curricular contributions.
The award carries a citation, a medal, and cash reward of Rs 2 lacs. Applications were invited from the persons with disabilities specified under RPwD, belonging to any field or activity i.e. Education/Health/ Employment/Art & Culture/Sports/Creative work/ Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities/Social service/ etc. - a Role Model.
Out of a total more than 1.49 Lakhs applications under the category (male, female, institutions, NGO, government offices) she scored highest points and selected for Individual excellence award in Female category.
The selection committee comprised of Union Minister of Social Justice & empowerment, Minister of state for social justice & empowerment, Secretary , Department of Empowerment of persons with disability, Chairperson , National Commission for women, The chief commissioner for persons with disability, Chairperson , Rehabilitation council of India, Chairperson, National Trust, New Delhi and others distinguished committee members.
Dr Neelima joined UIPS, PU for her graduation in 1994 after her high school education from Arya Model Senior School, Moga. She completed her postgraduation, & Ph.D in Pharmaceutical Chemistry form Punjab University and decided to pursue her career in academics by joining her alma matter in 2012. Trained as a Medicinal Chemist, she synthesizes new chemical entities while working on molecular biology and pharmacology of hormone-dependent cancers by integrating different computational tools. Her creativity in research work has been recognized with 60 scientific articles, 2 US, 2 European and 4 National patents, 2 books, and 5 book chapters. She has been conferred with 13 awards including MOTHER TERESA GOLD MEDAL AWARD, INDIRA VASUDEVAN AWARD and DSTYoung Scientist Award. She has brought government (UGC, CSIR, ICMR, DST) funded research projects worth Rs 1 crore to UIPS. In April 2019, she took the responsibility as a Co-coordinator, Equal opportunity cell for person with disabilities (EoC-PwD) Panjab University, Chandigarh, to ensure the effective implementation of Govt. policies and programs for Physically challenged by providing guidance and counselling in academic, financial, social, and other matters.