The award constituting a memento and citation was given away at a glittering function held recently at Speaker House, Constitution Club of India, New Delhi.
Dr Kakodkar was selected for this Award amongst 12 other medical luminaries from India.
Dr Kakodkar was an outstanding alumnus of Guardian Angel High School Curchorem. He completed MBBS in 1992 and MD in Preventive & Social Medicine in 1996. He is presently working at Goa Medical College as a Director Professor in the Department of Preventive & Social Medicine and Officer In-Charge Academic Section.
Dr Kakodkar is a Guest Faculty at Nursing Institute, Bambolim. He has delivered lectures on health education at GIRDA and various schools and colleges. He has been a state-level trainer in HIV/AIDS counseling, Revised National TB Control program, Vector Borne disease control program, Baby Friendly Hospitals Initiative of UNICEF and Pulse Polio programs. Dr Kakodkar was a research Associate in the two-year community-based study on chronic renal failure in Canacona and also Pulse Polio & Family Health Awareness Campaign Evaluations. He has published scientific papers in state, national and international medical journals and is a post-graduate guide and examiner at Goa University and Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.
He was instrumental in starting the DISHA 2000 Program on Life skills education across schools in Goa with medical interns. He has also conducted a number of media sensitization programs and counseling sessions to prevent suicides among youth and community.
He has been the recipient of numerous other national and state awards, including Service Excellence Award (2014) by GAPIO, Best State IMA Secretary in India (2007), Best IMA Branch President (2011), Best IMA Branch Secretary (1999). He was the recipient of Rotary International Group Study Exchange Program to North Carolina USA and Oustanding Rotaractor for Community Service RI