Congratulations to Professor Sunetra Gupta, who has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL). Her election was announced during a ceremony at the Garden Museum in July 2024, where she joined other distinguished Fellows in signing the historic RSL Roll Book, a tradition dating back to 1825.
Currently Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, Sunetra has made significant contributions to the understanding of infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV, and influenza. Notably, she developed a pioneering universal influenza vaccine method, which has been licensed by Blue Water Vaccines in the USA. Her ground breaking work has earned her numerous accolades, including the Zoological Society of London’s Scientific Medal and the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award.
Sunetra completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton University and earned her PhD from Imperial College London before joining Merton College as a Junior Research Fellow in Zoology in 1993. In addition to her distinguished scientific career, she is an acclaimed novelist and translator, having published five novels and translated the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. Her literary achievements include the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Southern Arts Literature Prize, along with nominations for the Orange Prize and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
Sunetra is interested in connections between science and literature and is engaged in projects such as contrasting the uses of narrative in science and literature and celebrating the work of remarkable women scientists in the Shooting Stars project.
To read more about the 2024 elected fellows read: Announcement of 2024 Fellows and Honorary Fellows - Royal Society of Literature
This article was first published at Merton College: Professor Sunetra Gupta elected to the fellowship of the Royal Society of Literature | Merton College - Oxford
