Veena K Parnaik obtained her BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Mumbai, and PhD (1979) from the Ohio State University in Columbus, USA for her Studies on the enzyme dextransucrase. She subsequently returned to India and joined the newly established Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad as a Scientist (1981) and retired as Chief Scientist (2015), and she presently continues there as an INSA Senior Scientist. She has been Visiting Scientist at the University of Bristol, UK (1983), Institute of Molecular Biology, Prague (1983) and Osaka University Medical School, Japan (1996).

Academic and Research Achievements: Veena Parnaik has made significant contributions towards understanding the functional organization of the mammalian cell nucleus. She has demonstrated that a novel internal lamin network mediates spatial coordination of transcription and splicing. Her findings on lamin rearrangements during muscle differentiation and effects of lamin mutants on muscle differentiation, DNA repair and proteasomal degradation pathways have important implications for understanding the role of lamin mutations in inherited diseases termed laminopathies. She has identified factors regulating lamin A promoter activity in dividing cells, and carried out studies on the role of nuclear pore proteins in nuclear transport and in nuclear envelope assembly. She has authored about 75 research publications. She has taught cell biology and molecular biology courses at CCMB and mentored 20 PhD students.

Other Contributions: Veena Parnaik has been an active member of the Indian Society of Cell Biology and served on its Executive Committee for several years (1991-94, 2003-05, 2007-09) and as its President (2011-13). She has been Member of the RAP-SAC of National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi (2004-05) and Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad (2006-2015).

Awards and Honours: Dr Parnaik received the Shakuntala Devi Amirchand Prize of ICMR (1992), Dr PA Kurup Lecture Award of Society of Biological Chemists (India) (1997), Prof SP Ray-Chaudhuri Lecture Award of Indian Society of Cell Biology (2010) and Darshan Ranganathan Memorial Lecture Award of Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences (2014). She was elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (2008) and received the JC Bose National Fellowship (2011).