Dr. Renu Swarup: The First-ever women secretary of DST, India

Debarati Basu, Makaut WB

 BIOXONE BIOSCIENCES SERIES – “Extraordinary Women in Biosciences”- Day 1.

Dr. Renu Swarup- the iconic woman who supported microbial diversity studies so vividly in India, that scientists named an entirely newly discovered species after her as a tribute.

The first-ever women secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), India is Dr. Renu Swarup, appointed in 2018. She is working in the field of biotechnology for 29 years. Dr. Swarup was the Senior Advisor before she was assigned the role of Secretary to the Government of India. She is also the chairperson of the BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council). BIRAC is a public sector company under the Government whose main aim is to promote unique research in the field of biotechnology with the main focus on start-ups and SMEs. BIRAC also runs a wide number of successful funding schemes for industries. Dr. Swarup has effectively contributed to the formation of India’s Biotechnology Vision and Strategy. Moreover, she has played a major role in establishing Microbial Culture Collection which is India’s largest microbial resource center.

The beginning of her life:

Dr. Renu Swarup belongs to a defense family. According to her, it gave her the environment for her quick decision-making ability and clarity in her thoughts. She had to change 9-10 schools over the years which allowed her to interact with new people. Dr. Swarup used to participate in various extracurricular activates during her school days. She used to participate in various oratory competitions, mock parliaments, and theatres in school. She used to be the class monitor during her school days. Renu Swarup believes all of these helped her to build the foundation of her personality and taught her many lessons about leadership.

Educational background of Dr. Swarup:

Dr. Swarup has done her Ph.D. in the Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding. She holds a post-Doctoral from The John Innes Centre in Norwich UK. She completed her post-doctoral under the Commonwealth Scholarship. After that, she returned to India in the year 1989, and then she took the assignment of a Science Manager in the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology.

A few of her accomplishments:

Dr. Swarup became a Science Manager in1989 and as a Science Manager, she resolved problems related to policy planning and its implementation as a part of her assignment. In 2001 she engaged in the articulation of the Biotechnology vision. Dr. Swarup engaged in National Biotechnology Development Strategy in 2007. She was also a part of Strategy II. She became the Member Secretary of the Expert Committee from 2015-2020. Dr. Swarup has been active as well as closely associated with Programmes and activities related to Women and Science. She is the main person behind the implementation of the Bio CARE. Bio CARE stands for Biotechnology Career Advancement for Women Scientists and is a part of the DBT scheme. Moreover, Dr. Swarup also became a member of the Task Force on Women Science. It mainly comprised of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister.

Dr. Swarup was also Managing Director of BIRAC. BIRAC is a public sector company under the Government whose main aim is to promote unique research in the field of biotechnology with the main focus on start-ups and SMEs. Dr. Swarup had helped more than 1000 Startups and Entrepreneurs and approximately 500 small companies for the development of products and research innovation. She supported Startups and small companies through Biotechnology translational research and industry-academia partnerships.

Dr. Swarup is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NASI) India. Furthermore, Dr. Swarup is a member of Governing Body of National Institutes, Universities, and Canters. Dr. Renu Swarup is currently the secretary of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India. She is heading the National Bioresource Development Board at DBT. She is also associated with the development, funding, and monitoring programs that are involved in the fields of Energy Biosciences, Bioresource Development and Utilization and, Plant Biotechnology- Bioprospecting, Tissue Culture, and other Biomass associated programs.

Awards and Honors received by Dr. Swarup:

• In 2012, Dr. Renu Swarup was awarded the Bio-Spectrum Person of the Year Award.
• In 2017, she was again awarded the Bio Spectrum Person of the Year Award. This award is a Special Jury Award for Government Mentor.
• In 2018, she was awarded The Indus Entrepreneurs Delhi-NCR WomENABLER Award
• In 2018, she was awarded Dr. P. Sheel Memorial Lecture Award by NASI and was also awarded “The World Academy of Science” Regional Prize in Science Diplomacy. She further received the National Academy of Sciences, India Fellowship Science and Society.
• In 2019, she was awarded Agriculture Research Leadership Award and also the Business World Most Influential Woman of India.
• In 2020, Natrialba swarupiae which is a newly discovered archeon species was named in honor of Dr. Renu Swarup.

Dr. Renu Swarup is an exemplary figure for others:

Dr. Swarup after completing her Ph.D. and postdoc didn’t follow the conventional career path instead she chooses the role of a Science Manager. Dr. Swarup’s vision about leadership qualities is quite interesting. According to her everyone has leadership qualities in them and one has to look into them and get aware of these qualities and try to channelize them in the right path. She believes that one must have confidence in them and should have the conviction in whatever work they are doing.

No one has that eureka moment when they realize they can be leaders instead of one’s progress in their career path, the knowledge they gain during the time and the best way to deal with challenges determine a true leader. She believes true leadership is focusing on the larger picture rather than considering the smaller components of it. True leadership is all about connecting the missing dots to creating the larger pictures. It is not about working alone towards the vision but also letting the whole team is a part of the vision. The main responsibility of a leader is to ensure that each member of the team takes responsibility for their work. The team members shouldn’t follow the leader blindly and rather have their unique vision.

Dr. Swarup’s look at success:

Dr. Swarup’s look at success is very distinctive. She believes that for the success of any vision one must have a proper road map. Renu Swarup further believes that the actual implementation strategy should be proposed after considering all the important aspects. She considers herself fortunate to be associated with a vast number of various activities from their initial stage till their delivery stage and finally being able to make them operational. According to her BIRAC was one of her most successful programs and this program gave her immense joy. It not only had a huge impact on science, human resource, and infrastructure but as it helps to create a new ecosystem.

Dr. Swarup signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Shri K N Vyas, the Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), thus signifying solidarity to work towards a common goal of fighting cancer, stressing in the importance of cancer research in our country.

Another program that gave her satisfaction was the DBT’s joint program with the department of space. In this program, they did the biodiversity characterization, certification of tissue culture systems. The certification of tissue culture was done first time in the country. Dr. Swarup was also part of the bio-energy program which also focused on commercialization rather than focusing only on laboratory techniques.

She believes that the main thing that she learned from different programs is that a leader is always responsible for the delivery of the vision. She further said that the journey is never smooth and each hurdle teaches us a new lesson. The lesson helps us to come up with newer and improved ways of tackling the hurdle. One must always remember that for the fruition of any vision there is a need for a proper road map. If there is no proper road map a vision will always remain a vision.

Dr. Swarup’s views on failures are inspiring:

Dr. Renu Swarup doesn’t see anything as a failure rather she believes everything is a hurdle or a challenge. She believes that every hurdle becomes an opportunity to learn something new, improving the way the thing was done before. and failure is when someone gives up. Dr. Swarup said that nothing should be considered as a failure but rather a learning lesson, a lesson to learn where things went wrong and how to improve it. She believes that everyone has their way of working and when you work as a team communication should be the main key. Renu Swarup is a firm believer that most problems get resolved when two people sit across the table and openly discuss the issue. She believes that most problems arise due to a lack of communication.

Dr. Swarup’s ideologies on leadership, success, and failures are inspiring. She is a very humble and hard-working person. She believes a leader should be a team person. All of these qualities not only make her successful but an inspiration for all.

Dr. Renu Swarup on Pan-Corona shot:

Dr. Renu Swarup said that the Government of India is working to prepare vaccines with modification. These modifications will help the vaccine to be effective against any new species of COVID-19 i.e. Pan-Corona Vaccine. She said that the team is preparing for the future so that if any new strain of corona comes they will be prepared beforehand. Dr. Swarup further stated that she and her team are also working with other scientific communities to find solutions for fighting COVID.

She said that the DBT was the first department that prepared a proper roadmap and R&D roadmap for preventing COVID. DBT’s roadmap was also presented in the meeting of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in February 2020. The roadmap is followed for the preparation of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. According to Dr. Swarup, the government has provided financial support of Rs1, 700 crores to 1,800 crores which could increase to about Rs 2,000 crores. This shows that India is not only prepared for COVID but also prepared to become a global biomanufacturing leader in the future.

Dr. Swarup said that Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine’s phase 2 and phase 3 trials will be starting very soon. She further said that DNA vaccines have been permitted for emergency use. She said that Biological E is in the phase 3 trial. It is going for approval from drug regulators by the end of September or early October. According to her India hold a prominent place globally for vaccine production. She said most of the Indian vaccines are working in phase two, phase three. The vaccines are tested to see their effectiveness against various strains.

Also read: MedKnowts, an AI enhanced system – A boon to the doctors

References:

1. India working on developing pan-corona shot: Dr. Renu Swarup. (n.d.). The Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/healthcare/india-working-on-developing-pan-corona-shot-dr-renu-swarup/articleshow/85566815.cms
2. Board of directors. https://birac.nic.in/bod.php
3. Bureau, B. O. Bw most influential woman of India: Renu Swarup, secretary, department of biotechnology. BW Businessworld. http://businessworld.in/article/BW-Most-Influential-Woman-Of-India-Renu-Swarup-Secretary-Department-of-Biotechnology/07-03-2019-167873
4. 10 leaders, 10 questions: Renu Swarup. (2019, July 18). IndiaBioscience. https://indiabioscience.org/columns/conversations/10-leaders-10-questions-renu-swarup
5. Thumbnail image: https://twitter.com/renuswarup

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