Dr. Renu Swarup is presently Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India. Having served in Department of Biotechnology for over 30 years, she also holds the position of Chairperson, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Company incorporated by the Government to nurture and promote innovation research in the Biotech Enterprise with special focus on Start‐ups and SMEs.

Dr. Renu Swarup has been instrumental in the planning and implementation of some major National programmes such as Spatial Characterization of Biodiversity, Second Generation Bioethanol, Drugs from Microbes, National Biopharma Mission, Antimicrobial Resistance, Genome India to name a few. She was also a member of the Task Force on Women in Science constituted by the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister.

As the Secretary of Government of India, Department of Biotechnology, she leads a Network of 16 Autonomous Research Institutes, 2 Public Sector Undertaking and a R&D Network of more than 5000 projects across more than 100 research institutes, Universities and Laboratories. In the recent COVID Pandemic situation she has led the COVID Vaccine and Diagnostic Mission. The Public Sector BIRAC, for which she is the founding Managing Director and now Chairperson, has supported nearly 3000 Startups and over 50 Incubators
A Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (NASI) India, A Life Member of Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) and a Member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD), she was awarded the “BioSpectrum Person of the Year Award” in 2012. “National Entrepreneurship Awards 2017”, TiE WomENABLER Award 2018, “Dr. P. Sheel Memorial Lecture Award” 2018 by NASI and the TWAS Regional Office Prize on Science Diplomacy in 2018. She has been awarded the Agriculture Research Leadership Award 2019.