Mihir R Gangakhedkar

I am extremely honoured to have received the APSR / ERS Young Investigator Award at the 25th Congress. I thank the ERS and APSR for deeming my research worthy of the same. I would also like to thank my mentor and co-author in the research, Dr Girish Sindhwani, for his silent support throughout my training and my family, for their perennial belief in my abilities.

The ongoing pandemic meant that my presence at the hybrid conference was virtual throughout. I would have loved to have participated in person in Kyoto to meet some of the leaders of our fraternity, but perhaps that is for another time. The scheduling process, the online platform and the accessibility were all smooth and efficiently managed by the secretariat. I must thank the overseas correspondents who assisted me during the practice session and during the final session of teleconferencing for being warm and welcoming.

I was nervous about my oral presentation since it meant representing not only my institute but also my country on an international platform, but the chairperson Dr Chin Kook Rhee was extremely kind and encouraging in his words. His admirable insight into each of the presented researches and his humility while addressing junior researchers was something I shall endeavour to emulate. I was privileged to share the session with other Young Investigator Awardees and was truly inspired by their research.

My research on IVC indices was motivated by the absence of regular invasive hemodynamic parameter usage: an end-user clinical problem so to speak. But the translational research by some of the other awardees has helped me envision a wider horizon for research, beyond my present focus. I congratulate them for their immense efforts and wish them success in the future as well. My experience at the conference was a humbling one. The quality of research presented and the sheer weight of experience that every speaker and chair carried was astounding! The sessions I had attended live have been of great educational value to me and I hope to be able to watch all those I missed from the archives after the conference. The only regret I have is not being able to visit the famed cultural capital of Japan!

One reads the stories of scientific achievements and there is often a definable single moment of inspiration that changes the course of the researcher forever. I cannot say what the future holds for me, but certainly, the APSR Congress has inspired me to work harder than before and made me even more aware of the work by colleagues across the seas in our fraternity. I was genuinely surprised when I received the mail congratulating me on the award and I sincerely hope that I make the most of this recognition in the future.

Mihir R Gangakhedkar