Shishu Memorial Lecture held online at PU

Chandigarh: University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS) in collaboration with Department of Guru Nanak Sikh Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh organized an online ‘Shishu Memorial Lecture’ in commemoration of Late Professor Shishu, today. Dr Shishu was a Professor of Pharmaceutics at UIPS, who joined in the year 1991.
 
Professor Indu Pal Kaur, Chairperson, UIPS commenced the event by sharing the reminiscences of the glorious life journey of Professor Shishu, in which she highlighted her sincere contribution to the pharmacy profession and revisited her through the lens of her loved ones by sharing the glimpses and messages received from them.
 
Professor Jaspal Kaur Kaang, Academic In-charge, Department of Guru Nanak Sikh Studies, very beautifully expressed her heartfelt views for Professor Shishu and briefly introduced the invited speaker, Professor Surinderpal Singh too. She also gave an overview about the genesis of endowment fund created by Late Prof. Darshan Singh for Shishu Memorial Lecture series. She thanked all the dignitaries, family members, batchmates, colleagues and students of both departments and beyond, to have been part of the event.
 
Professor Vivek Ranjan Sinha, Dean of University Instruction, Panjab University graced the occasion being the Chief Guest. He deeply remembered the beautiful soul, her positive outlook towards life, her dedication towards her profession despite her illness. He also shared a few memories of the strong bond he shared with her family.
 
The invited speakers were Professor Surinderpal Singh, Vice Chancellor (Former), Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab and Professor Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Vice Chancellor, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (Deemed University), Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
 
Professor Surinderpal Singh addressed Shishu as her very dear child rather than a professor, or a teacher, or a colleague. He delivered a forceful talk entitled “NEP 2020 Challenges and Opportunities” wherein he shared the vision of Dr Radhakrishna, a founder of Education policy 1949 and apprised the audience about different policies came across over a period of 70 years. He elaborated the need of NEP 2020 and covered its crucial aspects, while exemplifying his expert views with suitable examples.
 
Professor Rakesh Kumar Sharma remembered Professor Shishu and delivered an enlightening talk on the “Evidence-based studies on Ginger for tackling Pseudomonas aeruginosa.” He shared the urgent need of new antibiotic after WHO announcement 2017 and declaration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa antibiotic resistant, a priority pathogen. He gave glimpse of his research findings on GINGER as a therapeutic agent for lung infection and concluded his talk with WHO statement “Enjoy ginger, but it’s not cure for COVID-19.”
 
The event concluded on a nostalgic note with final commemoration to Professor Shishu and her father, Professor Darshan Singh by Dr Amarjit Singh Dua, Former fellow of PU Senate and Former Dean of College Development Council, GNDU, Amritsar.
 
Around 250 participants joined the webinar and included family members, batchmates, alumni, PU faculty, students and researchers.
 
Late Professor Shishu, UIPS was born on 06 March 1967 at Amritsar. Professor Shishu joined UIPS as a Senior Scientific Asst. Gr. I on 5 February 1991. She was an UIPS alumnus (B.Pharm. (1987); M.Pharm.  (1989) and Ph.D (2002). Her area of specialization was Pharmaceutics and Nanotechnology. She had a research and teaching experience of around 23 years. She had 2 patents granted (posthumous) & 43 publications to her credit and had received research grants from CSIR; UGC and Tata Memorial Research Centre, Mumbai. She had 69 presentations at International & National Conferences. She guided three Ph.D. thesis and three were undergoing too & 15 M. Pharm. thesis.