Seema Kumar

Seema Kumar drives Johnson & Johnson’s reputation as a pioneer and partner of choice in innovation, research and development (R&D), and public health.  Her responsibilities include enterprise-wide communications regarding innovation and R&D in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer products, as well as medical safety and ethics, domestic and international policy affecting the sciences, and public health. She leads communication for the office of the chief scientific officer, including the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centers and the office of the chief medical officer. As a champion of science and innovation, STEM, global health, and mentorship for women and minorities, she is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer at international forums.

Prior to joining the J&J Family of Companies in 2003, Seema was the chief communications officer at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research /Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Genome Research. She provided leadership to enhance worldwide public awareness of the Human Genome Project. Previously, she held positions at the National Institutes of Health and the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, where she launched and led a variety of initiatives to communicate and position the latest scientific advances and policy implications and STEM initiatives for high school students.

Seema serves on several external advisory boards and is the author of more than 200 news and feature articles on science and medicine, for which she has won several awards. She holds a bachelor’s in communication and a master’s degree in science journalism from the University of Maryland, which included a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, as well as a bachelor’s in physics from Stella Maris College, in Madras, India.

Growing up in India, Seema was taught from an early age by her father, a physicist and engineer, the importance of a STEM education to advance societal innovation and to develop her own career.