Dr. Mohan’s passion for global social impact stems from a deep-rooted perspective acquired through his experiences of having lived in poverty, an immigrant from under served and under represented parts of society, a scientist, a technologist, and policy architect. His leadership,dedication and presence has gained the attention of various global trailblazers such as President Obama who follows him on Twitter. He serves on multiple international nonprofit boards and has led government, nonprofits, universities, and corporations in transforming communities, cities, and regions through next generation science and technologies.
In 2018, Nishal founded mohuman,a social impact nonprofit and pioneer of smart solutions to digital equity, with like-minded quality, implementing partners across the world to help those most in need. Previously, Nishal directed the US Ignite Smart Gigabit Communities Program, managing more than twenty-five cities to adopt next generation technologies for smart and connected cities and regions with sustainable innovation ecosystems and economies. Nishal joined US Ignite after serving as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow in the Office of the Assistant Director, Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering at the National Science Foundation (NSF). He developed and drove national policies and initiatives across the US Federal Government in Big Data and data science, smart and connected health, and next generation internet technologies and applications for smarter cities.
Dr. Mohan previously founded and served as the Executive Director of the international multi-organizational Virtual Biosecurity Center that built global alliances to drive policies and initiatives for a safer world through biological, chemical and weapons of mass destruction nonproliferation. He also served as the Director of Biology Policy for the Federation of American Scientists and founder of Pandemic Academic LLC, to develop solutions to global infectious diseases. Nishal received his Bachelor’s of Science in biology at CUNY Hunter College and his Ph.D. in molecular biology at Princeton University.