Doctor Kanitkar is another shining and befitting testimony of what women are capable of achieving with the right sort of impetus and empowerment, to break the glass ceiling and soar beyond the skies.
Lieutenant General (Dr). Madhuri Kanitkar promotion to the second-highest rank in the Army and the third woman officer to attain this position, is another shining and befitting testimony of what women are capable of achieving with the right sort of impetus and empowerment, to break the glass ceiling and soar beyond the skies.
Lt. Gen. Kanitkar recently retired from the India Army in October 2021.
Dr Kanitkar was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General on February 29, 2020. The Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS) and her husband pipped the epaulettes of her new rank.
Incidentally, Dr. Kanitkar’s husband Lt Gen Rajeev Kanitkar also holds the 3-star rank of Lieutenant General. He retired from the Indian Army recently.
She also holds the unique distinction of being the first woman pediatrician to be elevated to this rank for Indian Army Doctors and is the only doctor on the Prime Minister’s STIAC (S&T) Innovation Advisory Committee. Dr. Kanitkar is also the first trained paediatric nephrologist of the armed forces.
On July 6, 2021, she was appointed the Vice-Chancellor of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik, by the Governor of Maharashtra. She took over this appointment after retiring from the Army in October 2021.
She also holds the unique distinction of being the first woman pediatrician to be elevated to this rank for Indian Army Doctors and is the only doctor on the Prime Minister’s STIAC (S&T) Innovation Advisory Committee. Dr. Kanitkar is also the first trained paediatric nephrologist of the armed forces.
Born into a Maratha family, in Dharwad , Karnataka, in 1960, Her grandmother and grandfather were both medical doctors. She joined the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, in 1978. She stood first in Pune University in all three phases of her MBBS degree.
She was awarded the President’s Gold Medal for the best outgoing student of the graduate wing in academics and extra-curricular activities, apart from the Kalinga Trophy for excellence in academics.
Dr Kanitkar was commissioned into the Army Medical Corps in December 1982. She did her post-graduation in 1990, earning the Doctor of Medicine degree in Pediatrics.
Later she underwent training in Pediatric Nephrology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Kanitkar has also completed fellowships at the National University Hospital, Singapore, and the Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, and the FAIMER fellowship in Medical Education.
On January 28, 2017, she assumed the office of Dean and Deputy Commandant of her alma-mater Armed Forces Medical College, Pune.
Dr.Kanitkar has been awarded the GOC-in-C Commendation Card once and the Chief of the Army Staff Commendation Card five times. She is also the recipient of the Vishisht Seva Medal (2014) and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (2018).
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