Nirupa Bareja M.Sc, PhD

Dr. Nirupa Bareja has after her 16 year stint with Biotech major – Biocon decided to take off on her own. Her oft quoted line “having been fortunate to receive the best of education and career opportunities, it is time to give back to the community“. Motivated by this urge, she is involved in a cross section of activities from providing technical advice to pharma/biotech companies, facilitating industry academia interface by way of research and internship programs for students, to the current major activity of driving the philanthropic arm of the Mazumdar Shaw Medical Foundation.

A topper in her M.Sc, followed by research as a CSIR – Junior and Senior Research Fellow, Dr Bareja joined Biocon after completing her Ph.D in Marine Biology and worked there for 16 years. During her tenure with Biocon, Nirupa helped introduce and build systems in multiple areas. She was instrumental in leading a team to get a number of Quality system accreditations for the company – ISO, FDA, CAP, Kosher to name a few. In her role as Group Head, Manufacturing, she was responsible for introducing new cost effective methods in the fermentation process for enzyme and pharmaceutical product manufacturing. She was one of the first woman production managers in the country.

Her unique skills lie in seamlessly transitioning multiple management roles i.e. Quality, Manufacturing, HR at Biocon. In a personal capacity, she was offered the prestigious Rhode Scholarship at the Oxford University given to young woman scientists for post doctoral research in the field of Biology. She has also authored a number of scientific research papers in world class journals. At Biocon itself she has been a recipient of the Outstanding Achievement awards three times in succession.

Another dimension is her passion to serve the community. When at Biocon, she was responsible from a CSR perspective for education, healthcare and child welfare programs for a large number of village school-children. Such efforts have resulted in her receiving prestigious awards and recognitions.

Presently, she leads the philanthropic initiative of the MSMF in an honorary capacity. She also heads the India operations of Vicus Therapeutics, a US based Pharma and Clinical Research company.