Institute of Health Sciences
(Under the aegis of Presidency University, Kolkata, located at Newtown)

Institute of Health Sciences (IHS) is established at the second campus of Presidency University with a vision to integrate teaching, research and training in prediction, diagnosis, and management of emerging viral and infectious diseases. The primary objective of this institute is to generate trained manpower and research-based technology to strengthen the infrastructure of public healthcare in our state and the entire nation. The world has faced the crisis of public health during the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has shown the importance of biomedical preparedness. Such a dedicated institute for research and training in West Bengal was the need of the hour. Establishment of IHS became possible due to the active collaboration of Department of Health and Department of Higher Education, Govt. of West Bengal with Presidency University and the School of Biotechnology (SBT; https://www.presiuniv.ac.in/web/biotechnology.php), its newest department that was functioning at the second campus of Presidency University. SBT was initiated in 2019 with a group of faculty members of the Department of Life Sciences at the newly established Newtown campus of the University. This campus consists of two centrally air-conditioned, 14-storey academic towers with a lush green field in the middle. The Department of Higher Education, Science & Technology and Biotechnology, Govt. of West Bengal generously funded to establish the basic infrastructure for post-graduate education, and sophisticated instruments for advanced research and hands-on training. The Department of Health, Govt. of West Bengal helped building an active collaboration of IHS with government hospitals for the purpose of research in the field of infectious diseases. IHS is replete with smart classrooms and spacious laboratories with basic and sophisticated instrumentation facility. The faculty members of IHS are pursuing research in diverse fields that span from host-microbe interaction and parasitic diseases to cancer biology. In addition to teaching and research, IHS aims to impart skill enhancement training to students and technicians to ultimately develop trained manpower in healthcare sectors and in biotechnology industry-ready human resources.

Salient features of the Institute of Health Science:

• Research and teaching facilities for supporting healthcare professionals, and a suitable Bio-repository of patient samples of emerging viral and other infectious diseases
• Biotechnology research and interventions
• Teaching and Training programs on state-of-the-art technologies.

Courses offered by Institute of Health Science:

A. M.Sc. program ( Duration: 2 years)

1. M.Sc. in Biotechnology (Annual outcome- 20 students)

2. M.Sc. in Virology and Immunology (Annual outcome- 20 students)

3. M.Sc. in Molecular Microbiology (Annual outcome- 20 students)

B. PG diploma ( Duration: 1 year)

1. Molecular epidemiology ( Annual outcome- 10 students)

2. Clinical genetics ( Annual outcome- 10 students)

C. Short term certificate courses

1. Certificate course on Molecular diagnostics; Duration- 10 weeks (Annual outcome- 20 students)

2. Technician training program; Duration- 3 months (Annual outcome- 20 students)

3. Blood and tissue banking; Duration- 10 weeks (Annual outcome- 20 students)

4. Clinical pathology; Duration- 3 months (Annual outcome- 20 students)

5. Undergraduate Summer Research Program; Duration- 8 weeks (Annual outcome- 10-15 students)

Student intake

Undergraduate/postgraduates in any branches of life sciences, physical sciences, chemical sciences, medical graduates and instrumentation graduates (sponsored and non-sponsored)