Dr.Pillai obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in the area of Drug discovery from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala in collaboration with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay. She received an independent research grant under the Women Scientist programme of Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment, Kerala. She did a major part of her Post-Doctoral Fellowship Programme at the department of Bio-Technology of IIT, Madras. She continued her scientific pursuit at IIT, Bombay, Powai. She have published several papers in peer reviwed journals. She received technology transfer award from Indian Association of Cancer Research in the year 2006.