Indian Virological Society

Dr Nivedita Gupta

Division of Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, India

Dr. Nivedita Gupta is a medical scientist trained in virology, epidemiology and vaccinology. She is the Head of the Division of Communicable Diseases at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and has 18 years of work experience in viral infections and vaccines. She was instrumental in establishing the network of 157 virus research & diagnostic laboratory (VRDLs) and has developed capacity for virus detection across India. She was instrumental in augmenting COVID-19 testing capacity in India from a single laboratory in January 2020 to more than 3300 laboratories now. She was the key person to lay down the SoPs for establishing molecular virology labs, implement quality testing protocols, formulation of COVID-19 validation protocols and introduction of multiple testing platforms in India. She spearheaded the program to upscale the development and validation of indigenous molecular diagnostics for COVID-19 resulting in 50-fold cost reduction. She coordinated R&D and clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines in India including Covaxin, Covishield and Covovax. She has significantly contributed to strengthen surveillance and diagnostic capacity for viruses in India including arboviruses (dengue, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis & Zika), Influenza, Measles Rubella, enteroviruses etc. As a team member, she has worked on deciphering the etiology and develop management guidelines for acute encephalitis syndrome in different parts of India. She is the Member Secretary of National Authority for Containment of Polioviruses. She has been extensively involved in prevention, containment and research on Nipah virus disease in India. She has 143 peer reviewed publications and 3 book chapters to her credit. She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and Member of National Academy of Medical Sciences, India