Arati Prabhakar, 63, will succeed Eric Lander, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), who resigned on Feb..

To become director of OSTP, Arati Prabhakar would need Senate approval, which could take months. However, she can immediately take the post of scientific adviser to the President of the United States.. This would give her a role in tackling several difficult science policy issues, including how best to position the United States to compete with China, put in place actionable regulations to protect US-funded academic research from theft, and reduce disparities in the research community..

If – or more likely when – Prabhakar is confirmed by the Senate, she will be the first non-European woman to lead the OSTP and become a scientific advisor to the President of the country..

Prabahar's experience in technology will be an advantage in competing with China in the field of technology, including the military, experts say. This is especially important in the context of the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine..

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Born in India and raised in Texas, Prabhakar received her PhD from the California Institute of Technology in 1984 and began working in government offices the same year..

From 2012 to 2017, she headed the US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - DARPA.. It was under her leadership that the biotechnology office was created, which was the first to start work on RNA vaccines to combat the current pandemic..

Worked for a non-profit charitable organization for a while. After Biden was elected President of the United States, some politicians bet that Prabhakar would be appointed as his science adviser.. Their bets turned out to be winning.