Vice President’s Office

Prof. Rajiv K. Saxena
Ph.D., FASc, FNASc, FNA
Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology & Vice President
South Asian University, New Delhi.
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Phone: 91-11-24122510

Rajiv Krishna Saxena (born 1951 in Delhi) was a National Science Talent Scholar supported by the Government of India while he pursued his studies in Delhi University (BSc Hons Chemistry, 1970) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (MSc Biochemistry 1973, and PhD 1977). He won numerous awards for brilliant academic performance, including Prof. TR Sheshadri award for topping the university merit list in Chemistry Honors. He did his postdoctoral research work in the field of Immunology at the National Institutes of Health in USA and returned to India in 1984 to initially join the National Institute of Immunology as a core scientist and later moved to the School of Life Sciences (SLS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as an Associate Professor of Immunology. He was appointed Professor (1992), Dean of the School of Life Sciences (2001) and Rector (Pro-vice chancellor / Vice-president) of JNU (2002-2005). In 1995 he was awarded the NII Senior Scientist oration and Gold Medal. Prof. Saxena spent 2 years as a Visiting Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (1990-1992), and was later awarded the prestigious Senior Fellowship of the US National Research Council (NRC) to work at NIOSH, Center of Disease Control, USA (1998-2000). Recently he spent 2 years (2005-2007) doing collaborative research as a senior NRC fellow at the US Environmental Protection Agency, North Carolina. Prof. Saxena was elected fellow of Indian Science Academy, Bangalore (1992), National Academy of Science (1996) and the Indian National Science Academy (2002). He has been the recipient of about 20 national and international research grants and heads an active research group at the School of Life Sciences, JNU. Currently he has focused his research on understanding the interactions of nano-particles with cells and tissues, in delineating the mechanism of erythrocyte loss a variety of anemic conditions and in understanding the effect of air-borne particulate pollutants on lung immunity and susceptibility to diseases. He has so far published more than 140 research papers in national and international journals and guided 15 Ph.D. students. He played a key role in the establishment of the South Asian University since 2008. In Dec. 2011, he was appointed the first Vice President of the university.

For further details about the research work of Prof. RK Saxena, please click here.