Harshita B. Gupta

PhD-trained biomedical scientist and scientific leader with 15+ years of postdoctoral and junior faculty experience in immunology, translational oncology, therapeutic development research, and multidisciplinary program management. Expert in scientific strategy, preclinical study design, biomarker research, data interpretation, immunotherapy resistance mechanisms, peer-review. Demonstrated leadership in multi-investigator research projects, managing grant-funded programs, mentoring scientific teams, and driving cross-functional collaborations.

Proven ability in planning, strategizing, translating complex scientific findings into strategic research decisions, high impact publications and grant fundings, and executive presentations.

Assistant Professor/Research - Long School of Medicine (LSOM), UT Health San Antonio

(2023 - 2026)

Provided scientific and strategic leadership across multidisciplinary, cross-functional immunology and oncology research programs, supporting collaborators and day-to-day research operations across different campuses globally (USA, UK, Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand), helping strategize and define research priorities, data analyses and collaboration processes towards successful publications and grant fundings.

• Co-Principal Investigator, Project 3, on NCI P01 federal grant. Developed and co-wrote Project 3 of NCI P50 SPORE grant with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA.
• Mentored graduate, MD/PhD, MD, undergraduate, and high school research trainees; led project planning, troubleshooting, data analyses, professional development, and communication skills development resulting in thesis, awards and publications.
• Critically contributed to successful trainee grants NCI F30, Translational Science Training T32 grant awards.
• Served on institutional MD and MD/PhD admissions committee, peer reviewer for multiple journals such as Cancer Research, JITC etc., other academic review activities, hiring and onboarding, performance reviews.

Instructor/Research - LSOM, UT Health San Antonio

(2018 - 2023)

• Coordinated and led breast and liver cancer projects and worked across scientific and technical teams to establish experimental workflows and research priorities.
• Transitioned the move, and setup of HHMI funded lab from University of Minnesota to UT Health San Antonio.
• Supported and coordinated collaborative immunology, tumor immunology and immunotherapy research programs, including work funded through an NCI R01 and Clayton Foundation grants.
• Organized and supervised grade-awarding Tumor Immunology Journal Club (2018–2022), guiding trainees through analysis of literature, research methodology, data interpretation, scientific communication.

Postdoctoral Researcher - UT Health San Antonio, Dept. of Medicine

(2010 - 2018)

• Designed and managed biomedical research projects spanning systemic lupus erythematosus, tumor immunology, melanoma, ovarian cancer, inflammation, and translational research.
• Collaborated with multidisciplinary faculty and research teams and trained junior researchers in experimental design, technical methods, data analysis, and scientific presentation.

Postgraduate Program - AI Agents for Business Applications - McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin (2027)

PhD - Immunology (Autoimmunity) - National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, India (2009)