Once ignored by Nobel prize winner C.V.Raman, Kamala proved her worth and became the first Indian woman to hold a PhD from Cambridge University in Biochemistry. During her time, the society had biased opinions on gender based education, despite of these circumstances, women who belonged to educated and established community took challenge to advocate their capability.

Her upbringing was surrounded by educated people and her family wished her to become a Scientist someday. Following which, she completed her B.Sc with Chemistry from Bombay Presidency College. 

She went on applying at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) headed by Prof C.V. Raman who was the first Asian Nobel laureate in Physics. Kamala’s application was naturally denied since she was a woman. She went on advocating for women candidacy with Raman. With hurdles on her admission, Raman eventually accepted her with few conditions. The conditions were unfavourable   as she was not allowed as a regular candidate and besides this she was demanded for late hours at work.

However, she completed her studies under a teacher Shri Sreenivasayya who was equally strict to her. She successfully submitted her research to Bombay University and received her MSc degree. 

She was then granted a Scholarship for doing her research at Cambridge University in UK. She worked on Potatoes and discovered the existence of the enzyme “Cytochrome C”  and its involvement in oxidation of all plant cells in the electron transport chain. Her discovery was appreciated at the time as an original discovery. She prepared a short thesis of 40 typewritten pages and submitted to the University. Her research and writing of thesis was concluded within a span of 16 months describing her findings of cytochrome C in respiration of plant tissue.

She was then awarded a PhD degree and proudly turned out to be the first woman of India to be called Dr. Kamala.

In her later life she joined as a Professor of Biochemistry in Royal Institute of Science, Mumbai. 

In 1998, she was invited for amendments by Dr. Satyavati ( first woman DG of ICMR) to felicitate her in a ceremony held in New Delhi, at this ceremony Kamala took her last breathe and passed away.