A passionate Microbiologist with 38 years of teaching and research experience: Are you ready to learn?

It gives me a great pleasure to write this recommendation to endorse Dr. Neelima Deshpande as an excellent Microbiology teacher. Dr. Deshpande was one our instructors during my Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) course back in 1999 to 2002. I thus write this letter based on my highly positive impression about her during those formative years.
I am a Senior Research Scientist at the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research Laboratory at Stanford University. I have been steering and overseeing the progress of our center’s mechanistic research with samples from several food allergy and oral immunotherapy trials as well as studies investigating immunity to SARS-CoV-2. I have been fortunate to have exceptional instructors, teachers, and mentors help shape my career thus far, and Dr. Deshpande is one of those remarkable teachers.
Dr. Deshpande taught us Basics of Microbiology, Molecular Biology, and certain modules of Industrial Microbiology during our B.Sc. course. She also instructed and oversaw us during the laboratory-based practical courses in conjunction with the lectures. I vividly recall her clarity in her explanation of key concepts. She often accurately sensed the level of comprehension of the class and individual students during her lectures and lab sessions, and calibrated her pace of teaching accordingly. She is skilled in simplifying complex subject matter to encourage class-wide comprehension and elicit interest. She made certain to re-connect with struggling students, and provide extra help so that they grasp the concept or a technique well. On the other hand, for students, who were well above the average, she suggested additional reading material, resources, and experiments beyond that covered in the class to further enrich their learning. She demonstrated and emphasized upon good laboratory practices, which are foundational to any aspiring researcher. Her lessons, particularly in microbial culture, have indeed served me well during my graduate and postgraduate years.
I am inspired and delighted to see her taking steps to follow her passion for teaching here in United States. The breadth of her knowledge and hands-on experience accompanied by her knack of teaching will doubtless benefit many prospective students from diverse backgrounds.

Dr. Neelima Deshpande is an excellent teacher, and explains the concepts very well and makes it simple enough to understand. Her teaching is a reflection of her knowledge and experience in the field of biology. In the past, have taken a microbiology and molecular biology class with her and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Would highly recommend taking a class with her.