Surgeon Vice Admiral Manish Honwad, VSM assumed the appointment of Director and Commandant of the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune. He completed his MBBS from AFMC in 1989, and later pursued MD in anesthesiology and critical care medicine from AFMC in 1998. He is a WHO Fellow in neuro-anesthesiology from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore. The flag officer is also an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi where he was awarded an M.Phil in public administration.

In an exemplary career spanning over 37 years, the flag officer has held prestigious academic, clinical, and administrative appointments including additional director general medical services (Navy) at the Naval HQ, commanding officer, INHS Sanjivani and commanding officer, INHS Asvini before assuming the appointment of Director and Commandant AFMC.

Honwad is a certified healthcare simulation educator from Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSIH), USA and an international speaker on healthcare simulation at various national and international conferences.

In recognition for his dedication to patient care and service, the flag officer has been conferred with ‘Vishisht Seva Medal’ in 2025. He has also been awarded the Chief of Naval Staff Commendation twice in 2006, 2013 and FOC-in-C (South) Commendation in 2007 and FOC-in-C (West) Commendation in 2011.