Asok Ghosh obtained his PhD degree (1955) from the University of Calcutta. His areas of specialization were comparative endocrinology and histochemistry. He was a Visiting Endocrinologist, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Assistant Professor, Veterinary College, Kolkata and the Sir Nil Rattan Sircar Professor of Zoology, University of Calcutta, Kolkata. After superannuation, he became CSIR Emeritus Scientist at the Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta.

Academic and Research Achievements: Ghosh and his associates worked on diverse aspects of avian endocrinology. One of his major contributions was the correlation of avian phylogeny with epinephrine-norepinephrine ratio. He found that the differential pattern of synthesis, storage and release of adrenomedullary catechol hormones depends upon neurohormonal modulation. His work has shed light on the etiology of resistance of avian diabetogenesis – a finding of profound biomedical significance.

Other Contributions: Ghosh was a member of Editorial Boards of several journals including Proceedings of Indian Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of Indian National Science Academy, and Indian Journal of Physiology. He was the National Member of International Union of Biological Sciences and Member of International Committee for Avian Endocrinology. He was also a Member of INSA Council (1983-85).

Awards and Honours: Dr Ghosh was honoured with UGC National Lecturer (1977), JC Bose Award (UGC) 1979 and Joy Gobind Law Medal (Asiatic Society) (1984). He was a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore and National Academy of Sciences (India), Allahabad, Founder and Honorary Fellow of Asia and Oceannia Society for Comparative Endocrinology, Founder Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology and President of Zoological Society of India.