VijayRaghavan is the DAE- Homi Bhabha Chair Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore. From April 2018-2022, he served as the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and the Chairperson of Prime Minister’s Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council. The goal of this position is to ensure that the benefits of science, technology and innovation reach the neediest for the sustainable development of India and for the well-being of our planet.
VijayRaghavan is a Fellow of the Indian Science Academies, the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK, and a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is an Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013.
VijayRaghavan studied Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. K. VijayRaghavan is now an Emeritus Professor at the National Centre of Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Bangalore and was the NCBS Director till 2013. From 2013-2018 he was Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology (DBT). He was the founding chair of the board for the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Initiative, chairman of the Biotechnology Industry Research and Development Consortium and is a member of the ATAL Mission High Level Committee.
VijayRaghavan is active in science and education policy, nationally and globally. He has an active research group at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. His laboratory has been productive during the entire period of his stint in the Government of India, including over the past four years as the Principal Scientific Adviser. As co-chair of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, he introduced several vaccines into the national immunisation programme.
