Dr BS Ajaikumar
Executive Chairman,
HCG
Profile
Dr BS Ajaikumar is a doctorpreneur and the Executive Chairman of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. (HCG), a globally recognized cancer care provider. He also Chairman of Global Healthcare Academy. A radiation and medical oncologist with over 40 years of experience in the US and India, he founded HCG to realize his vision of making advanced cancer care affordable and accessible. Today HCG has more than 26 superspeciality cancer care centres across the world. Dr Ajaikumar’s contribution to the field of cancer care in India as well as his successes as a first-generation physician entrepreneur has been widely recognized. He has been awarded the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the CII Regional Emerging Entrepreneurs Award, and BC Roy Award by the Indian Science Monitor. He is also a recipient of the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award.
He completed his residency training in Radiotherapy from the MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute of the University of Texas, and his residency training in oncology from the University of Virginia Hospital, Charlottesville. He received his MBBS from the St. Johns Medical College, Bangalore. He is passionate champion of healthcare reforms in the country and making it more robust, affordable and accessible. A social entrepreneur, he supports several not-for-profit initiatives that have been immensely impactful in the areas of rural education, health and financial empowerment of women in Karnataka.
Dr K Bhujang Shetty
Founder & Chairman,
Narayana Nethralaya
Profile
Dr K Bhujang Shetty is the founder chairman and MD of Narayana Nethralaya eye hospitals. He is an alumnus of Bangalore Medical College and has a master’s degree in ophthalmology from the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Minto Eye Hospital, Bangalore. Started as a small clinic, Narayana Nethralaya is now the largest superspeciality eye hospital in Karnataka providing cutting edge clinical care with state-of-the-art equipment. It is also a premier teaching and research institute. Dr Shetty is also the founder president of the Bangalore Ophthalmic Society. He has been awarded ‘Legend in Opthalmology’ by The Times of India in 2018 and is the recipient of Karnataka Rajyotsava Awardee in 2010.
Dr Nagendra Swamy
Founder & Chairman,
Medisync Health Management Services Pvt Ltd
Profile
Dr Nagendra Swamy has over 30 years of experience in health-care management with national and international organizations as a board member & part of the top management. He was the former group medical director and chairman of the Quality Council at Manipal Health Enterprises. Presently he is associated in various senior roles with: JSS Medical College, SDM College of Medical Sciences, Symbiosis Medical College and Research Centre; and True North. He has been awarded the ‘Doctor’s Day Award’ by Government of Karnataka, ‘Distinguished Alumni’ by Manipal University & ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ by Indian Medical Association for supporting medical fraternity.
Vishal Bali
Co-founder & Chairman,
Medwell Ventures
Profile
Vishal Bali is the co-founder and chairman of Medwell Ventures and Asia Head – Healthcare, TPG Growth, a leading global private equity company. He has 24 years of experience in building global healthcare delivery organizations in both developed and developing countries. His unique experience includes managing integrated healthcare delivery system comprising hospitals, diagnostics, primary care and daycare specialty. His cross-geography exposure spanning Asia Pacific and the Middle East – including India, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Dubai – has given him the exceptional opportunity to transform healthcare businesses across different verticals. Mr Bali was formerly the Group CEO of Fortis Healthcare and also CEO & MD of Wockhardt Hospitals. He has been an invited member of the Strategic Initiatives Group of Joint Commission International, USA, and a past member of the Global Agenda Healthcare Council of the World Economic Forum.
Dr Prasanta Mahapatra
President & Dean,
The Institute of Health Systems
Profile
Dr Prasanta Mahapatra is a medical doctor and a former bureaucrat. He was the ex-officio Special Chief Secretary to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. A Takemi Fellow in International Health and a PhD in International Health Policy & Economics from Harvard University, he joined the IAS in 1980 after a brief stint as a CGHS medical officer. Apart from having a wide exposure in sectors as varied as general administration, disaster management, rural development, irrigation and school education, he has held key positions in the health field. He was the Registrar of the NTR University of Health Sciences, Director (Medical Education), Commissioner Medical Services, Director- VC of the Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences and DG of MCR Human Resources Development Institute. He has been a member of ICMR Scientific Advisory Group, and Core Group of the Department of Health Research. He was also a member of the steering group of the National Nutrition Mission. At present, he is a member of the Scientific & Technical Advisory Group of the WHO - Alliance for Health Policy & Systems Research. Dr Mahapatra has contributed to the Global Burden of Disease estimates published in the World Bank’s World Development Report, 1993.
Dr Upendra Bhojani
Director,
Institute for Public Health
Profile
Dr Upendra Bhojani graduated as a dentist and taught at the Government Dental College and Hospital (Ahmedabad) before transiting to public health. He is masters in public health with a major in health promotion from Deakin University (Melbourne). He returned to India and joined the Institute of Public Health, Bangalore in 2007. He is the director of Institute of Public Health and a DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Fellow. He is a PhD in public health and health sciences from Ghent University (Ghent). His research work is in areas of chronic conditions, tobacco control, health policy and systems, the political economy of health and health inequity. He was a fellow of the John Hopkins Global Tobacco Control Leadership Program (2010) and is a prolific writer in scientific journals and popular media.
Dr Raghavendra Rao
Director,
Central Council for Research in Yoga & Naturopathy,
New Delhi
Profile
Dr Raghavendra Rao holds a PhD in Yoga and Life sciences from Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana University, Bengaluru. He was formerly General Manager of Clinical Excellence at HCG Hospitals, Bengaluru. He has completed several research projects in rheumatoid arthritis, pre-diabetes, diabetes, CVD risk prevention, the use of both yoga and naturopathy interventions. He has written many international research publications and book chapters on yoga and its application. He is the recipient of several awards in the fields of ayurveda and yoga research.
Geetha Manjunath
Founder & CEO,
Niramai Health Analytix
Profile
Geetha Manjunath is the founder & CEO of Niramai Health Analytix that has developed a breakthrough AI solution for detecting early-stage breast cancer in a non-invasive radiation-free manner. She holds a PhD in computer science from Indian Institute of Science and management education from Kellogg’s School of Management Chicago. She has over 25 years of experience in IT research and has led several innovative projects in healthcare and transportation. Before starting Niramai, she was lab director for data analytics research at Xerox India and prior to that principal research scientist at Hewlett Packard Labs for 17 years. She was a member of the C-DAC team that built the first commercial supercomputer from India. Ms Manjunath has received global and national accolades including CSI Gold Medal, BIRAC WinER Award 2018 and 2010 MIT Tech Review Grand Challenges for Technologists. She was named one of the top 50 NASCCOM IT Innovators in 2009 and she is on the Forbes List of Top 20 Self-Made Women 2020. She was recently awarded the Accenture Vahini Innovator of the Year Award from The Economic Times and Women Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 by BioSpectrum India. She is also a senior member of IEEE and inventor of 16 US patents and more pending grant.
Dr US Vishal Rao
MS, FRCS (Glasgow), FACS (USA)
Chief of Head & Neck Oncology,
HCG
Profile
Dr US Vishal Rao is the chief of head & neck surgical oncology & robotic surgery at HCG Cancer Centre, Bengaluru. He is a widely acclaimed expert in surgery for benign and malignant tumours of the thyroid, parotid and salivary gland, and complex neck procedures. He is the inventor of ‘Aum Voice Prosthesis’, a $1 speaking device for throat cancer patients, that is a part of 100 global social innovations across the globe. With over 13 patents filed for his innovation on medical devices, drugs, techniques & theories, Dr Rao has received wide recognition from BBC, Harvard Business Review & Forbes. He takes keen interest in cancer prevention and anti-tobacco programmes and has been the recipient of Judy Wilkenfield Award for Global Excellence in tobacco control. He is an international advisor to WHO Tobacco Free initiatives and a visiting faculty to John Hopkins University leadership programmes.
Mr Pravin Hungund
Chief Technologist & Global Head
Technovation Centre,
CTO Office · Wipro Limited
Profile
A thought leader and technologist with three decades of illustrious career in Information Technology, Mr Hungund has held various leadership positions in Technology, Innovation, Research and Development and business management, Mr Hungund is a specialist in Emerging Technology led Innovation driving digital transformation. His expertise cuts across the innovation life cycle from conceptualization & idea generation, evangelism; Design, Build, CRM and Enterprise client adoption. Mr Hungund led Technovation Centre, Wipro’s state of the art Innovation incubation centre since its inception in January 2013. Most recently, he set up the Silicon Valley Innovation Centre in California, USA.
Mr Rahul Nandan
Executive Editor,
Health Policy Research
Profile
Rahul Nandan is the former deputy news editor of The Times of India, Delhi & Bengaluru. He now co- heads HCG’s think tank Antardhwani in Bengaluru. He has been editor in various capacities in major media houses including TOI, The Indian Express and The Statesman in his decade long journalism stint. He is Director (Policy Analysis) at The Institute for Policy Research, Bengaluru and a member of Covid Consultative Group. He was selected by the US Department of State for the prestigious Foreign Press Reporting Tour on ‘Emerging Women Entrepreneurs in America’ in 2017 and was part of three-member journalist delegation invited from India to attend the Global Smart City Conference 2015 in Singapore. He has been an Honorary Consultant with IIIT Bangalore and has co-authored the first-ever lead article on ‘digital health’ in the Journal of the Indian Institute of Science since its existence for over a hundred years. Rahul continues to write on a range of issues for major news platforms across the country.
Ms Seethalakshmi S
Managing Editor,
Health Policy Research
Profile
Seethalakshmi S is an award winning journalist and the former City Editor of The Times of India, Bengaluru. She has 17 years of journalism experience and is the recipient of International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) - the US Government’s premier professional exchange programme. She is the co-head of Antardhwani - The Think Tank of HCG and Director (Policy & Strategy) of Bengaluru-based The Institute for Policy Research – A Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies. She is also the Vice- Chairperson of the HCG Institute Ethics Committee and a member of Covid Consultative Group. She has been Honorary Consultant with IIIT Bangalore. Seethalakshmi has co-authored the first lead article in over hundred year history of the Journal of the Indian Institute of Science and continues to write for major news platforms across the country.
Prof Ashok R Patil
National Law School of India University
Profile
Prof Ashok R Patil is the Chair of Consumer Law & Practice at NLSIU, Bengaluru. He is the founder director of the Online Consumer Mediation Centre (Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs). An experienced professional with a demonstrated history of working in the consumer services industry, Prof Patil is skilled in research, online mediation, insurance law, international law, corporate law, food laws, ISO and ISI standards, regulatory authorities, e-learning and clinical legal education. He is B.Sc, LL.M and PhD focused on Consumer Protection Laws from Karnatak University. He is the author of several books and has papers published in several national and international journals. He is the Chief Editor of International Journal on Consumer Law and Practice and has received a host of awards including Asian Law Institute’s Fellowship in 2010 and ‘Legal Education Innovation Award 2013’.
Dr Muralidhar M Kulkarni
Associate Professor,
Dept of Community Medicine,
Kasturba Medical College,
Manipal
Profile
Dr Muralidhar M Kulkarni is an expert in community medicine with research interests spanning epidemiology of non-communicable diseases and substance use disorders. He is a faculty at Manipal Academy of Higher Education and FAIMER Institute. He completed FAIMER IPE Fellowship in 2018 and was the recipient of the best inter-professional project. He has been involved in research grants funded by national and international agencies including ICMR, Government of Karnataka, PATH, USA, Medical Research Council of UK, UK Research and Innovation among others. Dr Kulkarni is the project lead at Manipal for the MRC-UK funded project titled ‘Preventing smoking uptake among adolescents and Country PI’ for the GCRF Tobacco Control Capacity Program. He has published research papers in reputed national and global journals and was invited to be academic editor for PLOS One journal. He was joint secretary for the Karnataka Association of Community Health and co-chair for the GACD lung diseases program from 2017-19.
Dr Srivats Bharadwaj
Founder & Chairman,
Vatsalya Dental Chain
Profile
Dr Srivats Bharadwaj is an oral health practitioner specializing in paediatrics, preventive and special needs dentistry with over 24 years of experience. He founded Vatsalya Dental, a leading chain of dental clinics in the country, providing affordable, quality and world-class oral health services. It was accredited by GCR as amongst the top 5 dental facilities in the world. Dr Bharadwaj also established the first-of-its- kind innovation and incubation centre in the world for dentistry with the intention of nurturing path breaking ideas and innovations amongst young dental professionals. He is a key influencer in the thought leadership and academic fraternity in dentistry and healthcare in India. He is the founder and chief mentor of The League of Dentists and a founding member of The Holomedicine Association.
Dr Maneesh Paul S
Infection Disease Specialist and Campus Director
Acharya Institutes
Profile
Dr. Maneesh Paul. S is a clinical microbiologist (MAHE) with a doctorate in microbiology. As a post-doctoral fellow he further is trained in infectious diseases (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA & Umeå University, Sweden), ORISE Fellow (CBER, US FDA, Bethesda), & Industrial Fellow (Dr. Reddy's R&D, India). At Orchid Pharma, Chennai, he led the anti-infectives program - proprietary, and an 8-year collaboration with Merck USA. He co-invented Enmetazobactam (OCID5090 / AAI101) – the anti-infective discovered indigenously in India and completed Phase-3 Trials by out-licensing. He also led post-graduate evidence-based medical research at St. Martha’s Hospital, Bangalore. He is a member of the Anti-Microbial Resistance Committee of Infectious Disease Society of America, and the Contributing Expert at Global Antibiotic R&D Partnership. Presently he is leading trans-disciplinary research at Acharya Institutes, Bengaluru and enabling the process of it becoming a research-based university campus of academic excellence.
Dr Pramukh Natesh
Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon,
Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology,
Bengaluru
Profile
Dr Pramukh Natesh is a trained maxillofacial surgeon, specialized in head and neck oncology & reconstructive surgery, facial trauma & maxillofacial implantology. He is a fellow in oral oncology and reconstructive surgery at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru. He completed his Masters in Dental Surgery from KLE Society Institute of Dental Sciences. He is also an MD in acupuncture and oriental medicine from The International University for Complementary Sciences.
Dr Kunal Sharma
Oncopathologist,
Section Head & Consultant,
SRL Diagnostics & Fortis Hospital,
Bengaluru
Profile
Dr Kunal Sharma is an expert oncopathologist and also in charge of the reference centre of excellence for uropathology and of flowcytometry in the south zone. He has delivered talks and presentations at national as well as global conferences like PathSoc (UK), Global Cancer Congress (Tokyo), Lymphoma and Myeloma Congress, New York. He is a member of the Covid Consultative Group and has been instrumental in many policies around Covid testing in Karnataka including development of mobile testing kiosks and mobile fever clinics in remodelled government buses. He is a member of the Covid Raksha team of MP Tejasvi Surya and has been one of the key people in Karnataka to formulate and improve testing strategies time to time. He is also the recipient of Covid State Welfare Icon of the Year.
Dr. Kusum Moray
India Project Officer,
Tuberculosis Public Private Mix Learning Network-India Chapter
Profile
Country of work: India
Qualification: M.B.B.S, M.D in Community Medicine and D.N.B in Preventive and Social Medicine or Community Medicine
Affiliation: India Project Officer, Tuberculosis Public Private Mix Learning Network-India chapter
Academic Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Ashwini Rural Medical College, Kumbhari, Solapur, Maharashtra
Areas of Expertise: Public Health, Epidemiology, Health Technology Assessment
Recipient of Grants: (1) Mysore Medical College Alumni association (MAA) grant for the Project titled “Study of referral pattern of women for safe confinement to Cheluvamba hospital, Mysore, Karnataka” in 2011 (2) Indian Council of Medical Research-Short term studentship-09 grant “Blood lead levels in children and environmental lead contamination in an urban population” in 2009
Awards: (1) Secured first place in the Maternal and child health Poster category in the 64th Annual National conference of Indian Public Health Association in 2020 (2) Received first prize in the “Field work and Epidemiology-Oral presentations” category at the 7th Annual research day celebrations in Christian Medical College, Vellore, India in 2016 (3) Received third place (an award of INR 50,000) in the Essay competition conducted by the Tamil Nadu chapter of IMSA (International Medical Sciences Academy) in 2015
Memberships: Member of Epidemiology Foundation of India. Member of International Medical Sciences Academy.
Dr Satish Babu KN
Head, Dept of Endocrinology,
SPARSH Hospital
Profile
Dr Satish Babu KN is one of Bengaluru’s leading endocrinologists and heads the Department of Endocrinology at SPARSH Hospitals. His obtained his medical degree from Government Medical College (now VIMS), Bellary, and MD in General Medicine from Bangalore Medical College. He has worked in world-renowned hospitals in the UK including Cambridge University Hospital, Cambridge (Addenbrooke’s Hospital), Kings College Hospital, London and Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, leading to MRCP and CCST. He received his endocrine five years fellowship from these reputed institutions.
Pallavi Puri
Food Policy Program Associate,
Vital Strategies,
New York (USA)
Profile
Pallavi Puri has a Master's in Public Health from Boston University and is a Johns Hopkins Tobacco Control Leadership Trainer. She has eight years of experience in journalism, research and strategic health communication. Pallavi is a 2019 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Fellow under which she travelled to various cities across India to conduct an in-depth probe into the country’s unregulated beedi (hand-rolled cigarette) industry — and its health and economic impact on a workforce comprised mostly of women and children. She utilizes her skills to bring effective transition from knowledge to policy promotion and behaviour change.
Deepak Kumar Sahu
Partner,
Alira Health,
Boston(USA)
MPH,
TH Chan School of Public Health,
Harvard University
Profile
Deepak Kumar Sahu is a computer science engineer and holds an MBA from ESB Business School in Germany. He is a partner at Alira Health, a global healthcare transformation enabler. He holds a Master's in Public Health from TH Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University and has a strong background in healthcare solutions development. He has more than five years of strategy consulting and project management experience from engagements in Japan, US and Europe. Deepak has advised various med-tech and pharmaceutical companies to improve their market access processes by implementing in-depth health economic and epidemiology studies. He has also worked at Samsung’s R&D department.