Dr. Hannah Rachel Vasanthi

Dr. Hannah Rachel Vasanthi, Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Pondicherry University, is a rank holder in UG and PG Biochemistry from Bharathi Women’s College, affiliated to the University of Madras, and completed her PhD at Tamil University. She pursued postdoctoral fellowships through the BOYSCAST Fellowship at the University of Connecticut, USA, and INDO-US CV Raman Fellowship at the University of California, Davis, USA.

With over two decades of teaching and research experience in HEIs, she is passionate in teaching Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and encourages applied research. Her research on medicinal plants and functional foods using Nanobiotechnology, and AYUSH drug standardization and validation, has secured major grants and established her as a woman leader in STEM, with 100+ publications and four patents.

Her honors include the Tamilnadu Young Women Scientist Award in Native Medicine, Agasthiyar Award, VV Swaminathan Memorial Award, SP Thyagarajan and Rajarajan Award from IABMS, UGC BSR Mid-Career Award, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology. She serves on several committees as a subject expert. Presently, her commitment to self-reliance and entrepreneurship, serving as the Board of Director at ACIC – PUSH, has fostered entrepreneurial enthusiasm among students and scholars of Pondicherry University.