Ajit Dhananjay Jagtap earned his Ph.D. in 2013 from National Taiwan University, where his research focused on the design of novel kinase inhibitors, under the supervision of Prof. Ji-Wang Chern. He then continued his research as a postdoctoral fellow at National Taiwan University (2013−2015) before joining AnnJi Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Taiwan, as a Senior Research Fellow (2015−2021). During his time at AnnJi, his work centered on the development of novel inhibitors targeting kinases, BACE1, and HDAC.

In November 2021, Dr. Jagtap joined the Center for Drug Design at the College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota. He is currently engaged in antiviral drug discovery, focusing on human cytomegalovirus and Mpox virus, under the direction of Prof. Zhengqiang Wang.