Krishna Kodukula, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Drug Research (CADRE), SRI International, located in the Shenandoah Valley, in Harrisonburg, VA. Prior to that, he was Senior Director for Systems Biology in the Biosciences Division, working closely with SRI’s Centers for Excellence for both Infectious Disease and Biodefense and Computational Biology. Dr. Kodukula joined SRI from Sarnoff Corporation, an SRI subsidiary where he was a distinguished member of its technical staff. Previously, he was the director of biochemistry at Small Molecule Therapeutics, a senior research investigator at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute and a fellow at theRoche Institute of Molecular Biology, Hoffman-La Roche. Dr. Kodukula has aPh.D. in biochemistry and botany from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar in India,and did postdoctoral research at the Indian Institute of Science, where he wasa National Biotechnology Board Fellow.

Presently, Dr. Kodukula is interested in understanding the biological function at a system level,particularly the host-pathogen interactions, using model systems and computational approaches. At CADRE, he is establishing programs to create new diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for infectious and neglected diseases by effectively linking computational, wet laboratory proteomics, and therapeutic and diagnostic product-driven R&D,necessary to tackle daunting and important global health questions.

In addition to his 27 years of experience in conducting basic and industrial research, he helped launch Small Molecule Therapeutics, a venture funded drug discovery start-up in the Princeton area, and co-found Pyxis Technology Solutions, an IT tools developer, based in India and in the US. Entrepreneurship has been a constant companion in Dr. Kodukula’s career, be it in starting a novel research project, a biotechnology start-up or a new research center. During his graduate studentdays in India, teaming with his brother, he started a custom photography laboratory and a commodities trading desk!

Dr. Kodukula is a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Society for Biomolecular Sciences. He currently serves as member of Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission and is on the advisory boards of Shenandoah Valley Partnership and VA Bio.