Prof. V. N. Rajasekharan Pillai is Vice-Chancellor of Somaiya Vidyavihar University & Provost of Somaiya Vidyavihar, Mumbai. He is concurrently serving as Chancellor of the ICFAI University, Tripura.

Prof. Pillai is a renowned Organic/Polymer Chemist and is regarded as a pioneer in the field of solid phase peptide synthesis. He has been at the helm of many higher educational and scientific research establishments for the last 47 years as a teacher, professor, researcher, and executive head of Education, Science and Technology establishments in the country and abroad.

He also held the position of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the University Grants Commission, as well as Director of the NAAC.

Among his honours, Prof. Pillai is an Elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and an Honorary Senior Fellow of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.

Prof. Pillai has created a research group in the area of biopolymers and peptides and has published extensively in this area. He holds an International patent for the gram-scale preparation of biologically important peptides.