Dr. Pushpendra Singh is a renowned genomic microbiologist and a leading scientist in infectious disease research, currently holding the position of Scientist F at ICMR-National Institute for Tribal Health Research (NITHR), Jabalpur, India. He also serves as the one in charge of the State Level Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (SL-VRDL) at ICMR-NITHR, Jabalpur, where his dedicated team conducts research on various bacterial and viral pathogens, including influenza, hepatitis, human papillomavirus, and other emerging viruses. Over his 20+ years of research, he has made significant contributions to the understanding of microbial resistance, viral genomics, diagnostics, and molecular epidemiology, with extensive work in microbial genomics, drug resistance mechanisms, molecular diagnostics, and phylogenomics, particularly focusing on leprosy, tuberculosis, and emerging viral pathogens.
Dr. Singh earned his Ph.D. from ICMR-NJILOMD in Agra under the supervision of Dr. V.M. Katoch (former Director General of ICMR) before expanding his expertise abroad through prestigious international appointments, including as a scientist in the laboratory of Prof. Stewart Cole at the Global Health Institute, EPFL Lausanne, in Switzerland, and in the lab of Dr. Richard Truman at Louisiana State University in the USA. Upon returning to India, he joined MS University of Baroda, Gujarat, as a UGC Assistant Professor in 2016. He is also a recipient of the Ramalingaswami re-entry Fellowship (2016-2021), awarded by the Government of India for outstanding biomedical research. His accolades include the BioClues Innovation, Research, and Development (BIRD) Award (2021), the Y.S. Chaudhary Oration Award (2017), and Indian Association of Leprologists President’s Appreciation (2017). A global leader in infectious disease research, Dr. Singh ranks among the top 5% of scientists worldwide in the 2026 SciRank Global index.
He has secured multiple research grants and projects from organizations such as the Leprosy Research Initiative and Turing Foundation (Netherlands), the Leprosy Mission Canada, Seeding Labs (Boston, USA), MS University of Baroda, ICMR, DHR, and WHO. With an h-index of 30 and over 100 publications in top-tier journals like NEJM, Science, Lancet Infectious Diseases, Nature Genetics, PNAS USA, Nature Review, Disease Primers, etc., his work has advanced the field of pathogen genomics, diagnostics, and pathogen transmission understanding. Current research is focused on improving global health by developing new molecular tests, studying how pathogens change, and exploring their spread through phylogenomics and genomic epidemiology.
Motivated researchers and scientists are welcome to collaborate, and students as well as young researchers are encouraged to join the research team as interns or project staff/scientists for various ongoing projects as per the openings advertised on the institute website. Researchers are also welcome to apply for various competitive fellowships such as DBT-RA, DBT-RLS, NPDF, etc., and women scientist schemes such as DBT-BioCARe.