Joveeta Joseph, MD, PhD

Dr Joseph received her masters in Microbiology from Osmania University, Hyderabad. She did her PhD in Medical Microbiology from BITS-Pilani where her thesis was on Investigation of Microsporidial Keratitis in India; conducted at the L V Prasad Eye Institute. She made significant contributions to the field of Ocular Microsporidiosis and was awarded the Junior Best Paper Award at the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists in 2006 for describing the first report on 16S rRNA gene-based PCR assay for identification of microsporidia in ocular samples. She also received the G P Agarwal Young Scientist Award the same year, for her work on the role of MMPs in the corneal button of patients with fungal keratitis and wound healing. Dr Joseph’s post-doctoral work at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, was in the area of microbial transformations and screening for natural product microbial bioactives, for which she received the DST - Fast Track Scheme For Young Scientist grant in 2008. In 2013, she won the DST - Women Scientist Scheme grant for her work on antimicrobial resistance.

Currently, Dr Joseph is involved in the diagnostic and research activities of ocular infections at LVPEI. Her lab research interests are to understand the immune response and pathogenesis of endophthalmitis while also focusing on the characterization of the microbiome by next-generation sequencing in culture-negative endophthalmitis. She has been awarded several grants from the reputed DST-SERB and ICMR for her research work and is a recognised PhD guide with Manipal University. In addition to research, she also monitors the infection control activities of the hospital. Dr Joveeta Joseph has published over 75 manuscripts in peer‐reviewed journals and is on the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. Her scientific achievements include the Dr C.S. Bhaskaran Gold Medal at the Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists, 2015 and the Young Scientist Award, 2016 and Associate Fellow 2018 by the Telangana Academy of Sciences. She has presented at various national and international conferences as well.