President’s Profile
The Royal Government of Bhutan appointed Dr Kinzang P. Tshering as the President of the Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan in Dec 2014. The present Government has granted a second term of five years in 2019 as per the provision of the University Act 2012. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Interim President until May 2013 & the Medical Director of Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) from April 2012 to May 2013. He was the Head of the Paediatric Department at JDWNRH from 1999 to 2012.
He did his schooling from Sainik School Goalpara, Assam, India and his MBBS degree from the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) Pune, in 1986. He had his post-graduate training in Pediatrics from 1993 to 1998 at the Bologna University, Italy. He got his Fellowship Training in Neonatology from 2002-2004 at Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Thailand. He is the first Bhutanese Pediatrician and Neonatologist.
As the first pediatrician, he has played a major role in the development of pediatric services in JDWNRH. He pioneered in the setting up of a ‘Neonatal Intensive Care Unit’ (NICU) in the country. In his quarter of a century-long career as a clinician, he has also taken active part in public health activities as Technical Advisor to the Ministry of Health in child health related programs. He was the chair of the National Committee on Immunization Practices of Bhutan (NCIP) and a member of the Child Health Advisory Group (CHAG) of the Ministry of Health.
As a member of the South East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (SEARCCPE) since 2008 and is one of the signatories to the Regional Certification of Polio-free status on 27th March 2014 in New Delhi, India. He is presently a member of the Regional Verification Commission for Measles Elimination, SEARO. He was also a member of the WHO working group for SAGE on Vaccine Hesitancy. He has undertaken various WHO assignments as a temporary advisor for maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination (MNTE) survey, Indonesia 2010; Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) Review, Myanmar, 2008; and MNTE survey, India, 2007.
He also served as technical resource person for training health workers and teachers in the administration of the “Rapid neurodevelopment assessment (RNDA)” tool for the second phase confirmation of the first ‘Childhood Disability Survey’ in 2010.
He is a recipient of the ‘2007- STECKER Scholarship’ in Specialty Training in Neonatology at Nationwide Children Hospital, Columbus, USA and also received the Royal Civil Service Gold Medal from His Majesty the King of Bhutan for his dedicated service.
He was one of the founding board members of the Ability Bhutan Society, a NGO for the welfare of differently-abled children in Bhutan under the patronage of Her Majesty the Gyaltsun, Queen of Bhutan.
He has undergone the 13th Batch De-Suung Training in September 2014 and completed the 7th Senior Executive Leadership Program (SELP- 7) from 2nd October to 1st November 2016 at the Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies (RIGSS), Phuentsholing, Bhutan.
Dr.Kinzang P. Tshering
Designation: President
Email: kptshering@kgumsb.edu.bt