Gita Sen has been the Sir Ratan Tata Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Management since 2000 (where she was Professor from 1993 to 2000) and Adjunct Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health since 2002. She was formerly Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard (1996-2002) and has been a Visiting Professor there and at Vassar College, New York.

She has served on numerous boards and committees and is currently, inter alia, a member of the Key Advisory Group of Experts, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India; the Expert Group on Development Issues, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden; the National Consultative Group, United Nations Population Fund, New Delhi; and the Expert Advisory Panel on Health, Science and Technology Policy, World Health Organization, New Delhi. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honours including the Volvo Environment Prize (1994) and a Fullbright Fellowship at Vassar College.

Prof. Sen holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Delhi, India, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in the United States.