Dr Pragya Yadav

Dr Pragya D. Yadav is the Director-in-Charge of the National Institute of One Health, Nagpur, and a Scientist ‘F’ at the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Virology (ICMR-NIV), Pune, India, where she leads Asia’s first Biosafety Level-4 (BSL-4) laboratory. She obtained a doctorate in virology from Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, in 2004 and subsequently joined ICMR-NIV as a Scientist. 

Dr Yadav has made significant contributions to virology, biocontainment science, human and animal virology, health sciences, epidemiology, biomedical sciences, molecular biology, public health, translational research, and preclinical vaccine studies. Her work focuses on highly infectious viral pathogens. She has been instrumental in the discovery of several novel viruses and the rapid investigation of viral outbreaks, including Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Kyasanur Forest disease, Nipah virus, Zika virus, and mpox. 

Dr Yadav has contributed to the development of novel diagnostic assays, technology transfer for commercial production, and the distribution of diagnostic reagents to WHO South-East Asia Region (SEAR) Member States. Her efforts have enhanced public health preparedness for emerging threats such as Ebola, yellow fever, SARS-CoV-2, and mpox in India. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Yadav played a pivotal role in isolating the SARS-CoV-2 virus in India, a key step in enabling Bharat Biotech International Limited to develop the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, COVAXIN™. Her team successfully conducted preclinical studies, paving the way for clinical trials, marking a major milestone in Indian science and the history of ICMR.