soon after obtaining his ph.d. degree, tej worked for a year as a lecturer at the university of indore. he then spent more than two years (1978–1980) as an alexander von humboldt / max-planck, post doctoral fellow in the german laboratory of professor robert huber, who later received the nobel prize. after his return to india he worked as a reader at sardar patel university (1980–83) and an additional professor (1984–85) in the department of biophysics at the all india institute of medical sciences, new delhi. he was appointed professor and head of the department in 1986.