PAU Professor honoured with IAPEN-India Excellence Award and Best Oral Presentation at International Nutrition Conference

Ludhiana, February 27, 2025: Sonika Sharma, Professor, Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, has been conferred with the prestigious IAPEN-India Excellence Award 2024-25 for Academic Achievement in Nutrition. The award, presented by the Indian Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (IAPEN), recognises outstanding contributions to nutrition research, academic excellence, and public health impact. Dr Sharma received this esteemed honour during the International Clinical Nutrition Conference (ICNC-2025) held in Varanasi on February 22-23, 2025.

Dr. Sharma is a distinguished academician and researcher who has made significant contributions to Functional Foods, Clinical Nutrition, and Food Safety. Her pioneering work includes the development of Vitamin-D enriched mushroom powder, optimising the nutritional and biochemical composition of microgreens, and pumpkin seed flour technology, among others.

In addition to this accolade, Dr. Sharma was awarded the Best Oral Presentation Award for her research paper "Development of Clinical Model to Identify Sarcopenia in Patients with Liver Cirrhosis" at ICNC-2025. The study, a collaborative effort between PAU, Ludhiana, and Dayanand Medical College & Hospital (DMC&H), Ludhiana, developed a statistical model for predicting sarcopenia and malnutrition in liver cirrhosis patients without the need for computed tomography (CT) scans. The co-authors of the research included Dt. Shaveta Batta, Dr Ajit Sood, Dr Chandan Kakkar from DMCH, Pallavi Sehgal and Dr Khushdeep Dharni from PAU.

Expressing pride in Dr. Sharma’s remarkable achievement, Dr. Kiran Grover, Head of the Department of Food and Nutrition, PAU, highlighted the department's unwavering commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in nutrition research.
Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor of PAU; Dr Ajmer Singh Dhatt, Director of Research; Dr Kiran Bains, Dean of the College of Community Science; and Dr Kiran Grover extended their heartfelt congratulations to Dr Sharma on this well-deserved recognition in the field of nutrition and clinical research.