Graduate Student Association
The Graduate Student Association seeks to provide learning, mentoring, and relationship building opportunities for graduate students in the College of Veterinary Medicine. If you are a graduate student in the College of Veterinary Medicine please join our organization to take advantage of these opportunities.
Feel free to email if you have any questions.
Executive Committee
Saurav Pantha was born and raised in Nepal. He received his DVM in 2020 and worked as a veterinary clinician for 2.5 years before joining K-State in the fall of 2023. He is currently doing his PhD in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology with Dr. Santosh Dhakal. His research focuses on immunology, virology, and metabolomics, investigating how host factors influence influenza virus pathogenesis and vaccine response. He also served as the secretary of CVM GSA during 2025/26.
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Joana Magoga is originally from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and is currently pursuing a PhD’s degree in Swine Nutrition at Kansas State University in the Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology department. She earned her Agriculture and Livestock Technician degree in 2015, and her Veterinary Medicine degree from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in 2022. Following graduation, she worked as a veterinarian in Brazil, providing technical assistance to nursery and finishing farms. Her research interests focus on swine nutrition and swine production systems.
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Sri Nithya Dasari is originally from South India, where she received her BVSc & AH degree. In 2021, she moved to the Netherlands to pursue her master’s in One Health with an emphasis on epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance at Utrecht University. She is currently in the 3rd year of her Ph.D. in Diagnostic medicine/Pathobiology working under Dr. Nagaraja. Her research focuses on antimicrobial resistance associated with bovine respiratory disease in cattle.
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Jordana Zimmermann grew up on a small farm in southern Brazil. She earned her veterinary degree from the Federal University of Pampa in 2019 and her master's degree from the Instituto de Pesquisas Veterinárias Desidério Finamor in 2023. During this time, she worked first as an undergraduate researcher and later as a professor, where she discovered her passion for both teaching and research. In 2024, she proudly joined the Department of Anatomy and Physiology at K-State to pursue a Ph.D. under Dr. Bortoluzzi, in collaboration with the Beef Cattle Institute. Her research focuses on Animal Welfare, Pain Assessment and Management, and Predictive Models for Animal Health. She served as GSA Vice-President the last executive year and is happy to keep working alongside the 2026-2027 cohort.
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Caroline Wingert is originally from Ottawa, Kansas, where she was raised on a small beef cattle operation. She attended Kansas State University for her bachelor's degree and got her Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics and specialized in Pre-Veterinary Medicine. She is working on a master's degree in veterinary biomedical science through the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Her research focuses on the success factors of rural veterinarians.
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Shannon Rossman is originally from Michigan, where she grew up on a small family livestock and row crop farm. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Animal Science with a minor in Feed Technology and a certificate in Swine Production Management from Iowa State University in 2025. She is currently pursuing her master's degree in Applied Swine Nutrition in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology. Her research interests focus on nutritional interventions for health-challenged swine herds.
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Sujan Kafle was born and raised in Nepal, where he earned his DVM from Agriculture and Forestry University in 2023. Driven by an interest in zoonotic and emerging infectious diseases, he joined Kansas State University to pursue a master's degree in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology under Dr. Juergen Richt, through the Center on Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (CEZID). His research focuses on monkeypox and influenza viruses.