With great sense of pride, Indian Veterinary Association, Kerala has identified a multifaceted personality for this year’s Best lady veterinarian of the State. She is Dr. Annie Varghese, Veterinary Surgeon, Veterinary dispensary, Sreekaryam, Thiruvananthapuram with a 12 years dedicated service in various institutions of Animal Husbandry Department. Being a graduate of Veterinary College, Mannuthy (1992) and a postgraduate of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary, Animal Sciences University, Chennai in Veterinary Surgery (1994) she had always been a favored recipient of many distinctions and awards all throughout her student life. She has bagged the Statistics Medal (1993), K.J. Hospital Gold Medal (1994) and the prestigious Puratchi Thalaivi Dr.J Jayalalitha Endowment Prize (1994) from the Tamil Nadu Veterinary & Animal Sciences University proving her scholarly excellence beyond academic culture and borders.

A life member of the Indian Society for Veterinary Surgery and the author of around 19 surgical papers presented in various scientific platforms, Dr. Annie has been honored with the best paper Award and Gold medal in the Avian, Zoo and Wild life session in the 32^nd Annual Congress of Indian Soceity of Veterinary Surgery (Namakkal). She is a skillful and dedicated surgeon significantly contributing to and leading the surgery teams of Trivandrum zoo and the Animal Birth Control (ABC) programme of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation as the master trainer for ABC. Dr. Annie also has acquired a thorough know-how on the companion animal behavior and the underlying chemistry of the pet-client-vet trilogy which makes her a popular animal welfare activist voicing her ideals and ideas in several of her technical publications and organizations like People for Animal of Trivandrum and Animal Rescue, Kerala. Her vision and passion for clinical care has recently taken the shape of a project proposal on Multi-specialty Veterinary Hospital at the State capital which would soon get materialized. Dr. Annie’s pure enthusiasm to upgrade her professional brilliance through the most advanced veterinary care is visible in the umpteen numbers of training she has attended on Laparoscopy and Diagnostic Ultrasound in Veterinary Practice (Chennai), Canine Teaching cum Training Course (Mumbai), and Advanced Clinical Diagnostics and Hospital Management in various parts of the country. A familiar face in the national and international seminars on Wild Life Management, Epidemiology on Zoonotic Disease, Leptospirosis, SWOT Analysis on Animal Husbandry Sector, Animal Disease Diagnosis and Control, Reptile Management, VCI Norms for dispensaries, Quality Improvement of A.I Delivery System, she is almost exceptionally resourceful in these diversified areas. Dr. Annie has also emerged as a professional with high social and ecological concern on issues outside her veterinary world, like Gender issues, Watershed master plans, Community counseling and Ecological and Economic Management of Costal Zones. Dr. Annie’s extension skills are praiseworthy in identifying and promoting the best farmers around her thus bringing the State Best Poultry Farmer Award (2005) and District Best Dairy Farmer Award (2007) to her working jurisdiction. Gifted with good literary tastes, Dr. Annie has also served as the member of the editorial boards for Poultry Vision, JIVA and IVA News letter, radiating her multifaceted aura. So, here we say......keep shining, the bold and the bright lady….….. to empower the rest of thou in veterinary profession!