Professor V. Samuel Raj has joined as the Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology and Director of the Centre for Drug Design Discovery & Development (C4D) at SRM University Haryana on November 1, 2014. He has joined SRM University Haryana with 10 years R&D experience from 2 major pharma giants Ranbaxy and Daiichi Sankyo and 15 years international and national research experience. He has special interest on neglected diseases (TB, Leishmaniasis, Malaria and Dengue) and initiated the open innovation, international collaboration between the academics and industries to discover new drugs against infectious diseases with special focus on neglected diseases. Dr. Samuel has worked as the Sr. Group Leader of Microbiology, Daiichi Sankyo India Pharma Private Limited and led major drug discovery projects against infectious diseases. He has the experience as Group Leader of Microbiology at Ranbaxy Research Laboratories and led many drug discovery projects against infectious diseases. Before joining Ranbaxy, he worked as Visiting Scientist (Faculty) in the Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.

He has done PhD (Microbiology) from the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in 1993. He did post-doctoral research at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Academia Sincia, Taipei, Taiwan; Chiba University, Chiba, Japan, Thomas Jefferson University and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. He has published many scientific research papers in well reputed peer reviewed international journals (more than 70). One of the publications in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (2007) made a change in the practice of prophylaxis against meningitis during epidemics. He has published two international patents on antibacterial agents. In 2021 (July), he published the white paper on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) along with Padma Bhusan Prof. N.K. Ganguly (former Director General of ICMR), and the news was covered in more than 20 leading newspapers in India. Prof. Samuel Raj is one of the pioneers in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and drug discovery in India.

He has won many awards and fellowships in USA, Japan, Switzerland, UK, Taiwan and India including the prestigious Tokyo Biochemical Research Foundation (TBRF) award and Commonwealth Fellowship. He was recognized as the distinguished alumni of Microbiology in 50 years and invited to deliver the distinguished lecture series during the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU, Varanasi. He is the recipient of Karmaveer Chakra award and REX Global Fellowship in 2012 as a recognition of his contribution in the field of Medical Sciences. He has been selected as one of the leaders in the Biomedical scientific field and invited to attend the Next Generation Leaders Meet organized by Stein am Rhein Symposium (STARS 2009), Switzerland and awarded as STARS Fellow by STARS organization, Switzerland. He is invited and elected as the Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, 2021) and the Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (FRSHTM, 2017).

He has many international collaborations with many renowned scientists like Prof. Sir Tom Blundell, University of Cambridge, UK; Prof. Simon Croft, LSHTM, UK; Prof. William Bishai, Johns Hopkins University, USA; Nobel Laureate Prof. Ada Yonath, Weizmann Institute, Israel; Dr. Catrin Moore, University of Oxford, UK and many in UK, USA, Japan and France. He has organized two major international conferences on AMR (2015, 2019) and many renowned scientists have participated in the conferences. The notable speakers are Prof. Ada Yonath (Nobel Laureate, Israel), Prof. Sir Tom Blundell (Director of Research, University of Cambridge, UK), Prof. William Bishai (Johns Hopkins University, USA), Prof. Simon Croft (LSHTM, London, UK) and many more from USA, Canada, UK, France, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, etc.

He is the mentor and reviewer of the scientific research grants, Government of India (India DBT & UKRI, UK; India ICMR & Norway). He has been invited as a prominent scientific leader to deliver the talk as well as to chair the session at various scientific meetings, conferences, workshops and symposium in USA, UK, Israel, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, China, Taiwan, Mauritius, India and so forth. In 2019, he was invited by the Nobel Laureate Prof. Ada Yonath to deliver the talk at the Weizmann Institute, Israel and the session was chaired by Prof. Ada Yonath.

On June 12, 2018 he has joined as the Dean Academic Affairs and on February 9, 2022 he has joined as the Registrar of the SRM University, Delhi-NCR, Sonepat, Haryana, India.

Fellowship/ Awards/ Special Recognitions

1. Invited and elected as “Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, 2021)”
2. “Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (FRSTMH, 2017)
3. Karmaveer Chakra Award (2012)
4. REX Global Fellow (2012)
5. Best Alumni of Microbiology, IMS, BHU (2010)
6. STARS Fellow (Leader in the field of Biomedical Sciences), Switzerland (2009)
7. Tokyo Biochemical Research Foundation (TBRF) Award, Japan (1999)

Ongoing Research Projects as Principal Investigator:

1. Genomics driven Dissection of Susceptibility and Drug Resistance to Pulmonary tuberculosis with a Geographical focus on NER. Funding Department: Department of Bio Technology Total Project Cost (In Rs.): 82,128,980.00 Role: As one of the Principal Investigators (This is a consortium project)
2. Management of multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens causing Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Funding Department: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Total Project Cost (In Rs.): 4,960,000.00 (2021-2024)
3. Re-purposing of drugs and nanoparticle approaches for the improvement of treatment against Visceral Leishmaniasis with the aim of averting the emergence of PKDL Funding Department: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Total Project Cost (In Rs.): 7,100,000.00 (2021-2023).

In recent News on AMR: (more than 20 newspapers)

1. https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/it-require-a-multisectoral-approach-assimilating-human-animal-and-environmental-issues-to-limit-the-spread-of-amr-prof-samuel-raj/84846757
2. http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=140381&sid=2
3. https://www.indiatvnews.com/science/amr-can-usher-a-pandemic-worse-than-covid-19-experts-722845
4. https://indianewsrepublic.com/et-healthworld-health-news-professor-samuel-raj/395408/
5. https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/international/amr-can-usher-a-pandemic-worse-than-covid-19-experts