Indian origin researcher Chengappa named Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist of 2013

M.M. Chengappa has been named as the Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist of the Year 2013 by the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists.

He is a university distinguished professor and head of the diagnostic medicine and pathobiology department in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University.

"It's a great honour to be recognized with such a prestigious award, being the only award of this kind given to an individual in the U.S. and Canada," Chengappa said.

"I'm honored and humbled by this recognition, and I'm quite thankful to the organization for recognizing me. I'm also thankful to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State and to Dean Ralph Richardson for giving me the opportunity to lead and work with a fine group of people in the college. I'm also thankful to Dr. T.G. Nagaraja for nominating me for this award," he said.

Meanwhile, Nagaraja, university distinguished professor of microbiology in the diagnostic medicine and pathobiology department, said that the award is the

highest recognition accorded to an individual by the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists.

Chengappa's primary research interests are studying and understanding the pathogenesis of important infectious diseases of animals, and developing strategies to protect animals from these diseases.

Identification, molecular characterization and functional analysis of antigens/toxins of Streptococcus suis, Mannheimia haemolytica and Fusobacterium necrophorum are his primary research focuses.

Chengappa received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Veterinary Science at Mysore Veterinary College in Bangalore, India. He received his master of science and his doctorate from Michigan State University. He is a board-certified veterinary microbiologist.