Jatna Supriatna graduated from the Master's and Doctoral programs at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, USA, in 1986 and 1991 in Biological Anthropology, followed by post-doctoral research at the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC) Columbia University, New York, USA. Starting as a researcher at the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and then becoming a lecturer and professor at the Universitas Indonesia. From 1995-2010 he was appointed Executive Director and then Vice President of Conservation International in Indonesia. 

He founded the Climate Change Research Center (RCCC-UI) at the Universitas Indonesia in 2010 and appointed as Co-chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN). In 2018, founded the Institute for Sustainable Earth and Resource (ISER) and SDG Hub (2020) at UI's Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences as part of an effort to encourage universities to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

In 2012, he was appointed as a member of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI) Commission on Basic Sciences and since 2023 appointed as Chair of Commision on Basic Science. In 2018, he was elected to Chair the Association of Indonesian Environmental Scholars (PERWAKU). He was also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Universitas Indonesia from 2014-2019 and the advisory boards of various organizations, including Konservasi Indonesia Foundation, Tapanuli Orangutan Foundation, The Bornean Orangutan Society Foundation, The Conversation Indonesia Foundation (TCID), the United in Diversity (UID), the Belantara Foundation, the CSF Foundation, and others. On the international stage, he is still a member of the Board of the National University of Singapore-Centre for Nature Based Climate Solutions since 2019, and IUCN Co-chairman of the Southeast Asia Primate Specialist Group. In 2021, he was appointed by the Chairman of Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI) to be chairman of Indonesian Sciences Fund (DIPI).
    
He received some prestigious awards: from His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands as the Most Excellence Order of Golden Ark for his dedication to the work on the environment, the Habibie Award for outstanding achievements in Natural Science research, Terry MacManus from the United States of America for his dedication to environmental awareness and action in conserving nature, the Achmad Bakrie Award on Science for his commitment to developing Field and Conservation Biology in Indonesia, a Lifetime Achievement from Conservation International in the Field of Biodiversity Conservation, The Margot Marsh Award for Excellence in Primate Conservation from Biodiversity Foundation and The Bosscha Medal 2023 from Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Universities. In Dies Natalis University of Indonesia - February 2024, received Lifetime Achievement in Research from University of Indonesia 

Some Specialist Group immortalized his name for a new tarsier primate species from Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, Tarsius supriatnai, the flying gecko from the Togean Islands, Central Sulawesi, (Draco supriatnai) and a new type of gecko was found called the Bali Gecko (Cyrtodactylus jatnai).