Athens, Ga. – Srinivasa Muralidhara was recently named the employee of the year for the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy.
Muralidhara has been responsible for obtaining extramural funding, training undergraduate and graduate students and carrying out an extended series of biomedical research projects under the direction of James Bruckner, who hired him as a research coordinator forthe Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences and its toxicology program. “He is the ‘glue’ that has held the program together over these years. He has provided the continuity that is critical to bridge between successive generations of graduate students and cycles of research funding,” said Bruckner.
“He is by far the most dedicated and dependable employee I have been associated with. He is meticulous in his work. He is modest and conscientious to a fault. He is unfailingly friendly and willing to help others,” added Bruckner.
“It was quite a surprise to me to have my name called out,” Muralidhara said after the award ceremony. “I have considered this building as my other home ever since I moved here 23 years ago. I thank the former and present faculty and staff who have provided a wonderful atmosphere.”
Muralidhara is credited with training at least 15 graduate students by teaching laboratory sessions and helping with the execution of experiments, including animal surgeries and dosing, data handling, and analytical and biochemical techniques. In addition he maintains laboratory equipment, troubleshoots computer problems, initiates computer and graphics capability upgrades.
Muralidhara is “one of those ‘golden’ employees that you have to work with maybe two or three times in a professional lifetime,” said Cham Dallas, head of the Center for Mass Destruction Defense at the University of Georgia.
“He is an indispensable data bank on procedures, equipment and those invaluable ‘tricks of the trade’ which seem to be irreplaceable in actually making something work in the laboratory,” said Dallas.
For more information on the College of Pharmacy, visit http://www.rx.uga.edu/.
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