Dr. Jitendra Kumar is currently the Professor of Practice at IISER Mohali, He is also an Advisor, R&D, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad. Former Managing Director of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, Dr Kumar holds a PhD degree in Biotechnology from Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh. After his PhD he moved to US for his Post Doctoral studies at Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, Ohio, USA. He holds an MBA from Fisher College of Business at OSU. After returning to India he served ICICI Knowledge Park (now IKP) as Vice President, Life Sciences Innovations and later as Managing Director Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre (BBC), Bangalore.

He has been involved in mentoring and funding start up companies in the two of the most emerging start up Innovation ecosystems of India- Hyderabad and Bangalore before moving to central Government as Managing Director of BIRAC where he managed the Bio Innovation ecosystem at national level. He was Instrumental in implementing Research Development and Innovation Fund (RDIF) at BIRAC. He is a member of various Central and State Government Committees and advises on policy matters related to startups, innovation, and entrepreneurship in Life Sciences. He has delivered lectures on Science Innovation and policy in several countries. He has around fifty peer reviewed publications and around forty-five products have been launched under his mentorship.