Udit Batra, a University of Delaware chemical engineering alumnus and chief executive officer of MilliporeSigma, will deliver the Jack A. Gerster Memorial Lecture from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 19, in Room 102 of Colburn Laboratory.

Batra will discuss innovations in the life sciences that have the potential to accelerate access to better health for people everywhere. He will focus on the rise of gene editing technologies to accelerate drugs discovery and production; flexible biologic manufacturing to localize production; and digital technology to support researchers in designing experiments and acquiring necessary reagents and consumables.

The lecture is part of the UD Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering seminar series.

Batra received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from UD in 1991 and a doctorate from Princeton University.

Batra started his career as a research engineer at Merck and Co. Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, and went on to join the health care, consumer and non-profit practices at McKinsey and Co. From there, he held several leadership positions at Novartis, including corporate strategy, global public health and market access for vaccines and diagnostics, as well as the pharma business in Australia.

Presently, Batra serves on the boards of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Massachusetts High Technology Council, and the University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He was named CEO of the year by CPhI Pharma and recognized as a top influencer by PharmaVOICE 100 in 2016.