Nilakantha Jena's work experience involves various roles in the pharmaceutical industry. Nilakantha started their career as a Project Trainee at ISP in 2007, followed by a role as a Research Associate at Macleods pharmaceuticals Ltd. in 2008. Nilakantha then worked at Alembic as a Research Scientist from 2009 to 2012, where they were involved in analytical method development, validation, and method transfer for various dosage forms. From 2012, Nilakantha joined Novartis, where they held positions as a Scientist, Sr Scientist, and Principal Scientist. Their responsibilities at Novartis included working on an oncology project for solid oral dosage forms and handling analytical tools such as GLIMS and TEDI. In 2023, they joined Sandoz as a Principal Scientist.
Nilakantha Jena completed their M.PHARM degree in Pharmaceutical Analysis from BPUT, ORISSA, during the years 2006 to 2008. Prior to that, they pursued a B.PHARM degree from Utkal University, from 2001 to 2005. In addition to their academic qualifications, they have obtained several certifications including "Communication for Product Managers" from LinkedIn in 2021, "Data Visualization: Storytelling" from LinkedIn in 2020, "Scrum: Advanced" from LinkedIn in 2020, and "Characteristics of a Great Scrum Master" from LinkedIn in 2019.
October, 2023 - present