Dr. KUMAR VENKITANARAYANAN
Associate Dean, University of Connecticut
Dr. Kumar Venkitanarayanan is a Professor of food microbiology serving as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, University of Connecticut. His research investigates the efficacy of phytochemicals, metals and probiotics in attenuating virulence in human and animal pathogens. He is one of the foremost researchers, who investigated the potential of several classes of natural plant-derived compounds for improving food safety. Having been successful in securing over 17 million dollars as competitive funding for his research, Dr. Venkitanarayanan published 125 peer-reviewed journal manuscripts and 27 book chapters, and characterized five new bacterial genes. He serves on the editorial board of multiple journals, including his position as Academic Editor in PLOS ONE.