Dr Koul who obtained his PhD from Delhi University and Max- Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany in 2001 kept the focus of his initial research on kinase and phosphatase . He subsequently worked in Axxima Pharmaceuticals , a biotech company in Munich . In 2004 , he joined the US multinational Johnson & Johnson and later became a Senior Director and headed its respiratory infections discovery unit based in Europe and US . In late 2016 , he took over as the Director of one of the premier institutes of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research ( CSIR ), the Institute of Microbial Technology ( IMTECH ), Chandigarh .
As the Director of IMTECH , Dr Koul played a pivotal role in establishing new research divisions like medicinal chemistry , and virology centers . He established several industry-academia partnerships like Zydus
Cadila and a high end skill development centre in partnership with MERCK . In 2018 , IMTECH ' s Bioinformatics Unit was among top institutions in the world in the number of biological databases .
In mid 2019 , Dr Koul moved back to Europe and joined Johnson & Johnson as its Vice President and Head for Global Public Health Discovery and Partnerships . While he continues in this role , he is also a member of the Board of Directors of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV , the European subsidiary of J & J . Additionally , Anil was recently appointed as Professor of Translational Discovery at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , where he will set up a laboratory of Translational drug discovery . He is also a member of the scientific advisory board of CSIR .
Current Position : Vice President and Head for Global Public Health Discovery and Partnerships , Johnson & Johnson
Impact : Discovery of multi drug-resistant tuberculosis drug called Bedaquiline , hailed as the most innovative orphan drug of this decade .
Notable Awards : American Chemical Society ( ACS ) - Heroes of Chemistry Award ( 2020 ); Sun Pharma Research Award ( 2017 ); Johnson Medal ( 2013 ); Swiss-TB prize ( 2005 )
Alma Mater : Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry ( MPI ), Munich Germany & CSIR- IGIB Delhi and Delhi University , India
In the last two decades , Dr Koul has made extensive scientific contributions to drug discovery and translational research . He has discovered more than 3 other drug candidates , two of which are into late stage human testing including one for serious respiratory viral infections . He has several publications in leading journals like Nature and Science and more than 25 international patents to his credit .
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