Dr Neelam Singh Josan
We are delighted to announce that the Peter Ihrke scholar for 2025 is Dr Neelam Singh Josan from India. Dr Neelam Singh Josan is a small animal practitioner from India with 26 years of experience and a special interest in dermatology.
She graduated from Madras Veterinary college, Chennai, India in 1997. She has a strong involvement in the dermatology community in India through her role in the India Association for Veterinary Dermatology (IAVD) of which she was a founding member.Dr. Josan volunteers with the non-profit organization National Veterinary Foundation (NVF) that aims at advancing the knowledge and skills of veterinarians throughout India. Dr Josan is actively involved with the Foundation and has the primary responsibility of helping organize its various CE events. She received an award recognising her contribution to dissemination of dermatology knowledge amongst veterinarians in India.
Message from Dr Josan
Dear Members Of the Administrative Committee of WAVD,
It is an honour to report back on the outcomes of the Peter Irhke Scholarship visit to UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine. This generous scholarship helped me gain invaluable hands-on training, highlighting the need for advanced clinical training to veterinarians in India.
I am fully committed to the goals of this scholarship particularly the dissemination of knowledge gained. I am writing to provide an update on my training activities since the announcement of Peter Ihrke scholarship 2025. After the WCVD 10 scholarship I was personally focused on disseminating the information and knowledge gained from the conference on the practising veterinarians in India. After the Peter Ihrke scholarship, which allowed me to be in a learning and exchanging notes mode with the DVM students of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine under the expert guidance of the faculty with Dr. Catherine Outerbridge as the Chief of the Dermatology Service, this showed me the additional benefits of sharing the new found evidence based advancements with the newer generation of veterinarians as well. This experience inspired me to focus on empowering Indian veterinary graduation students also, ultimately bridging the gap in care to better serve the profession and animal welfare in my home country. New graduates often struggle to transition from academic knowledge to practical clinical application. Sharing the systematic approach to the dermatological cases, basic diagnostic workups and instilling the benefits of basic diagnostics before prescribing any medicine and most importantly its impact to be a good antimicrobial steward are the crucial benefits in creating ripple effect ultimately protecting our patients, public health and the environment.
Since the announcement of the Scholarship, I have done a few training programmes.
1) Online lecture “Stepwise Protocol to approach a Dermatological case” to 4th Professional year of B.V.Sc & A.H students of Dr. G. C Negi College of Veterinary and animal Sciences, CSK HPKV Palampur on 20 March 2025.
2) Delivered a lecture on “The Atopic Challenge- How to manage it effectively, to the Veterinarians of Pet Practitioners Association of Pune, PPAP at Pune on 27 July 2025
3) Keynote speaker for a lecture and Hands on Workshop on Basic Veterinary Dermatology for Companion Animals organised by Innovative Veterinary Services on 24-25 August 2025 at Gurgaon.
4) I am honoured to have been given a chance to be a part of the The Global Dermathon 2026 Panel Discussion on Topical Therapy on World Veterinary Day 2026 by WAVD. I felt so proud to be a part of the global community of Veterinary Dermatologists who are committed to improving the lives of animals.
5) I am pleased to inform you that the training of the students in a small number per batch has been underway at our practice. We are accepting students from RPS College of Veterinary Medicine, Mahendergarh, Haryana. RPS College is a private Veterinary college in the state which has an objective of enhancing the quality of education and practical exposure to its students. I had committed to do lectures and hands-on workshops for the final year Veterinary students, as Veterinary Dermatology is not a major part of the curriculum. I am planning a visit for the same shortly at the college. We will continue to let the students visit our clinic for the training even after this workshop so that they can get a much personalised training. As part of my commitment to the dissemination of scholarship and academic knowledge sharing, we are offering these trainings free of cost to the students reflecting our commitment to fostering education and dermatological skill development of the newer generation of Veterinarians.
I will be conducting training for the Veterinarians of Remount Veterinary Corps responsible for the operational readiness of the small animals. I have been requested to conduct training of the veterinarians posted in the 2 veterinary hospitals of RVC in Delhi which I plan to do after the college training of the students at RPS College. I will update the committee of my future activities. I am attaching pictures of the various activities mentioned above.
I am grateful for this opportunity which pushed me beyond my comfort zone and allowed me to contribute to the veterinary dermatology community in a meaningful way. I am deeply committed to the mission of the World Association for Veterinary Dermatology. I look forward to actively collaborating with the experts in the field, accepting constructive insights and taking a proactive role in spreading the association’s goals to enhance the dermatological care in my region.
I am deeply grateful for your support in making this professional development possible.
Best regards
Neelam