Mitali Mukerji (born 1967) is a Professor and Head of the Department of Bioscience and Bioengineering, IIT Jodhpur. She was formerly a Chief Scientist at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology with notable achievement in the field of human genomics and personalized medicine. She is best known for initiating the field of "Ayurgenomics" in partnership with her colleague Dr. Bhavana Prasher (MD Ayurveda) under the mentorship of Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari. Ayurgenomics is an innovative study, blending the principles of Ayurveda- the traditional Indian system of medicine- with genomics. Mukerji is also a major contributor in the Indian Genome Variation Consortium, a comprehensive database that is producing "the first genetic landscape of the Indian population", and has been an author in many publications that use IGV databases to study population genomics. Mukerji has done extensive research on hereditary ataxias, and is involved in many other projects related to tracking disease origins and mutational histories. She is the recipient of the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in 2010 for her contribution in the field of Medical Sciences. Personal life Mukerji was born on 13 November 1967 in Madhya Pradesh to Bengali parents. She currently resides in New Delhi, India. She holds a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in bacterial molecular genetics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In an interview, Mukerji states one of her most influential mentors has been Dr. Samir Kumar Brahmachari, the former Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research known for his works in biophysics and pharmacogenetics. Career & research After completing her doctoral degree, Mukerji joined the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi in 1997. She has since worked in the field of population genetics and evolutionary genomics and has also had a particular interest in personalized medicine and the integration of Western Medicine and Ayurvedic medical practices. One of her most notable works was deciphering the functions of Alu regions, the most abundant transposon found in primate populations. Her and her team concluded that these sequences code for RNA that serve as transcription factors, regulating a multitude of cell functions, including heat shock stress responses. Mukerji's publications on Alu sequences provide evidence of its involvement in homeostatic maintenance in humans, as well as the functions of miRNA as regulatory pathways specific to humans. Mukerji has since continued to work in trying to understand the mechanisms behind heat shock