12/05/2026
We are delighted to share the first official message from the Vice Chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education.
As we embark on a new journey, we look forward to advancing our shared vision of academic excellence, innovation, research, and global impact under his esteemed leadership.
Join us in welcoming our new Vice Chancellor and stay tuned for more updates and inspiring insights ahead.
Thirty-eight years ago, I walked into my first operating theatre with no guarantee of what the next hour would bring. You learn quickly that certainty is a luxury. What you cultivate instead is judgment — and the courage to act on it. I carry that with me now, as I step into the role of Vice Chancellor at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, over a week ago.
There is something humbling about leading an institution you once studied in. I sat in these classrooms. Grew here — Grew here — as a clinician, then as a teacher, and later as Dean of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. This place is woven into me in ways no appointment letter could capture. I am not here to reinvent. I am here to listen, build on what is strong, and move with purpose toward what MAHE is still capable of becoming. But I do come with convictions. Here are three I will not set aside
𝐎𝐧𝐞: We are past the era of slow, comfortable growth. The disciplines that will define the next decade — at the intersection of health sciences, engineering, and the humanities — don't wait for institutions to catch up. We either lead, or we follow. At MAHE, I intend to lead.
𝐓𝐰𝐨: A university is only as alive as its students. Not their grades. Them. Their restlessness, their ambitions, the small crises that nobody talks about and the big ideas that never get a room. We will build spaces — physical and otherwise — where all of that has somewhere to go.
𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞: Faculty are not staff. They are the intellectual spine of everything we do. My job is to get out of their way, and to make sure the conditions are right for them to do the work only they can do.
As a surgeon, I was taught that a steady hand and a clear eye are not opposites of speed — they are the conditions for it. That's the kind of leadership I want to bring here.
MAHE has earned its place. Now let's do something worthy of it. I'm glad to be here.
And above all, true to the philosophy that has always defined us:
𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞.
#𝐌𝐲𝐌𝐀𝐇𝐄 #𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞
