The University of Vermont Graduate College is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2017-2018 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award is Rajiv Jumani, Ph.D., 2018 graduate of the Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program.

Dr. Rajiv Jumani grew up in Bangalore, India and became interested in biomedical research when he watched the helplessness of doctors to effectively treat diseases due to the lack of scientific understanding.  With the intention to harness technological improvements for scientific advancement, he attained an engineering degree in biotechnology.  Prior to joining the Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences graduate program at UVM, Rajiv developed a passion for infectious diseases while working on vaccines at the Indian Institute of Science followed by phage therapy at GangaGen Biotechnologies Pvt. Ltd.

Under the supervision of Dr. Christopher Huston, Rajiv pursued his Ph.D., working toward fighting child mortality and growth defects.  Rajiv developed innovative tools and collaborated with experts around the world to guide identification and development of drugs against the neglected diarrheal disease cryptosporidiosis.  His work led to a promising anti-cryptosporidiosis lead candidate with a patent application. He has been invited to give talks and participate in discussions among experts in the field, given several conference presentations, and co-authored journal articles.  After receiving his Ph.D. degree, Rajiv joined the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases as an Investigator I to continue working towards his long-term goal of striving for scientific progress to reduce human suffering.