Dr. Romeo Sawit Gundran, AVET lecturer and facilitator, was recently awarded as 2011 Outstanding Veterinarian in Education during the Joint 16th Federation of Asian Veterinary Associations (FAVA) Congress and the 78th Philippine Veterinary Medical Education (PVMA) Annual Convention and Scientific Conference held on 16-18 February 2011 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Lahug, Cebu City.

The awarding ceremony took place last 17 February during the Governor's Night at the Cebu International Convention Center, Mandaue City, sponsored by the Provincial Office of Cebu under Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

Dr. Gundran is a Professor, and currently the Dean of the College of Veterinary Science and Medicine at Central Luzon State University, Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija. He finished his Postgraduate Diploma in Veterinary Studies and Master of Veterinary Science (Veterinary Epidemiology) at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia through the AusAid Scholarship in 1995 and 1997, respectively. He attended the Training on Epidemiology and Diagnostic Serology at the Federal Republic of Germany under the German Foundation for International Development Scholarship in 2002. He had taken academic courses for the Doctor of Public Health (Epidemiology) program at the University of the Philippines, College of Public Health.

He is a former member of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Technical Panel for Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and and the Professional Regulation Commission Continuing Professional Education (PRC-CPE) Council. He serves as Co-Chair of the Specialty Board of the Philippine College of Ruminant Practitioner (PCRP) and Vice Chair of the Philippine Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education.

Since 2006, he has been actively involved as Facilitator and Lecturer in the Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training (AVET) Program of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN-FAO) where he is also connected as Consultant. Currently, he is the National Epidemiologist of the FAO Project on Surveillance of Ebola and Other Swine Diseases in Pigs.

Dr. Gundran also served as resource speaker of various international and national conferences. He is one of the presenters last year in the panel session of the 7th International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases (ICEID 2010) held at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia on July 11-14, 2010. He presented the study titled �#34;Reston Ebolavirus in Pigs in the Philippines and Outbreak at the Animal-Human-Wildlife Interface”, conducted in the country by the International Mission Team”.

He has also served as Chairman of the Regional Advisory Committee on Animal Disease Control and Emergency in the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Unit III in 2003-2004.

Aside from the distinction given by the PVMA, Dr. Gundran was also the recipient of the 2008 Most Outstanding Veterinary Practitioner in the Academe given by the Veterinary Practitioners Association of the Philippines (VPAP) and the Gintong Butil Award for Professional Achievement given by the CLSU Alumni Association in 2005.

Dr. Romeo S. Gundran was born in August 1963 and happily married to former Merly Forbes. They have two children-- Dorothy Kathleen and Nathan Lemuel. Despite his being very busy in the veterinary profession, he is an active member of both Gideons International in the Philippines and the Lakas Angkan Ministries. Presently, he is the State Chaplain of the Gideons International in the Phil. North Luzon State and the Ministry Area Leader of Lakas-Angkan Ministry based at Central Luzon State University.