Dr. Jaya Prakash was born and raised in Pune. She finished her medical education (MBBS which is equivalent to MD in the US) and then proceeded to research and study infectious microbes to get her MD (specialization in infectious diseases/ medical microbiology) from B. J. Medical College, University of Poona (Pune). Her doctoral thesis was on Klebsiella pneumoniae and plasmids of antibiotic resistance. In addition, she holds a Masters of Public Health in disaster management and emergency preparedness from Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois. She is certified as a Specialist Microbiologist (Medical Microbiology & Public Health Microbiology) by American Academy of Microbiology and American Society of Clinical Pathologists. She has worked for 10 years in India in infectious diseases as a lecturer and as an associate professor in two different medical colleges and teaching hospitals. In these positions she was in charge of all the different labs which were WHO collaborating labs as well as state epidemiology labs. Throughout her career, she has continued working on antimicrobial resistance. Her work includes epidemiological studies on MRSA and VRE as well as novel approaches such as effects of herbs such as garlic on VRE. She is currently working on 1. Antimicrobial properties as well as food borne illnesses associated with spices and 2. Disinfection protocols for chiropractic tables.
For past 24 years, she has been in the US and became US citizen in 2006. She has been teaching at National University of Health Sciences, Lombard campus in the professional programs a variety of subjects including microbiology, pathology & public health. She was a department chair for almost 8 years and was a full professor. She has worked on the development of various curricula including problem based curriculum and undergraduate curriculum for BS in biomedical sciences at NUHS. She has published and presented numerous research articles in peer reviewed publications. Two of her presentations were featured in the press room coverage at national conferences.
She joined Kaplan University School of Health Sciences in May 2007. As an academic department chair and program director she developed BS in Health Science program, BS in Public Health and Masters in public Health programs as well as helped in developing BS in Nutrition Science program in its initial phases. 
She returned to NUHS as a full time faculty in microbiology at the NUHS Florida campus in September of 2010.  She currently teaches both medical microbiology courses as well as fundamentals of pathology and Histology & embryology courses.  She is active in American Public Health Association as a chairperson for Global Health connection committee of international health section.
She has been teaching for the St. Petersburg College, Anatomy & Physiology I & II both in class and online. She is also teaching Microbiology lab.
In addition, in her spare time she volunteers with the Pinellas county Emergency management as a consultant for special needs populations and pandemic influenza planning.
Her strengths include her love of science, proficiency in MS office, internet software and an aptitude for technology. She loves swimming, walking, talking with friends and watching Sci-Fi movies including Star wars. Her hobbies are astronomy, listening to music, dabbling in gardening and “hanging out” with her daughter.