Board of Directors
Our prestigious board members come from varied clinical and research backgrounds
Dr. Jugnu Jain, PhD
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Saarumsciences Pvt Ltd.
Dr. Jugnu Jain is a molecular geneticist and cell biologist by training. She obtained her PhD from Cambridge University (UK), followed by a post-doc and Instructor-ship at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School at Boston. Her area of research was cytokine gene regulation.
After her post-doc, Dr. Jain joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals where she steered multiple drug discovery projects. She led Vertex’s global Immune-Inflammation team, and has significant experience in cancer and diabetes area as well. Prior to founding Sapien and Saarum, Jugnu was a Research Fellow & Disease Area Expert for Multiple Sclerosis helping guide research strategy, evaluating innovative technologies and forging productive scientific collaborations.
Dr. Jain returned to India in 2011 to launch Sapien and Saarum along with her co-founders, Prithi and Sreevatsa. Jugnu has published over 20 papers in leading journals including Nature and Science and has two patents in her name.
Mr. Sreevatsa G. Natarajan
Co-Founder & Director , Saarumsciences Pvt Ltd.
Mr. Sreevatsa Natarajan is a scientist-entrepreneur with more than 15 years of global R&D and business experience in the life sciences industry. He has held leadership positions across various domains in companies such as Purdue Pharma, Vertex Pharma, Glenmark Pharma and Aurigene. He has played key roles in developing & launching several novel drugs across various therapeutic areas such as inflammation, infectious diseases, neurology etc.
Mr. Natarajan brings extensive experience on the science side in applying pharmacology & pharmacokinetics to drug development problems and on the business side in structuring deals and facilitating collaborative alliances in a global context.
Mr. Natarajan holds dual Masters’ Degrees in Chemistry & Pharmacokinetics from Birla Institute of Technology & Sciences, Pilani and Medical College of Virginia, VA, USA.
Dr. K. Hariprasad
CEO-Central Region, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd
An anaesthesiologist by qualification, Dr.Hari Prasad is responsible for Operations of 16 hospitals across 5 States as CEO of the Central Region of Apollo Group of Hospitals.
His initial focus was on Emergency Medicine and has contributed significantly to the recognition of Emergency Medicine as a specialty in India. Dr.Prasad is the first individual outside Europe to be honoured with the Fellowship of College of Emergency Medicine, UK and the first individual in India to be honoured with a fellowship by the International Federation for Emergency Medicine.
As the Chief Executive Officer he steered Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad to be the first hospital in the region to be accredited by JCI and the first hospital outside the United States of America to be certified for excellence in management of acute stroke once again by Joint Commission International. Since 2006 Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad has been consistently voted as the best hospital in the region and has evolved into a health city – ApolloHealthCity, the first operational health city in Asia.
Mr. Seemant Jauhari
Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Health Education & Research Foundation
Mr Seemant Jauhari is a management professional (MBA, Indian School of Business)with over 12 years of experience in Strategy, Business Development, Planning and account Management. He has broad experienceacross diverse industry sectors such as Healthcare, Telecom, IT and Business Consulting. Mr. Jauhari brings key strengths in establishing new initiatives & projects, leading teams across multiple locations and cultures, facilitating market entry and organization transformation.
He took over the leadership of Apollo Hospitals Educational & Research Foundation, as the CEO in June 2010. In this role, Mr. Jauhari is involved in building the research &innovation capability at Apollo Hospitals by undertaking techno-commercial feasibility of various proposals dealing with new technologies, therapies & services.
Mr. Jauhari also serves as a director on three research related JVs& has been instrumental in forging creative healthcare collaborations that bridge healthcare and life sciences.
Dr. Sita Naik (MD, FAMS)
Advisor Apollo Hospital education and research Foundation
Dr. Sita Naik is an eminent medical professional and well known medical educationist. She retired as the Dean, at the prestigious Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI), Lucknow. She also served as Member, Board of Governors, Medical Council of India (2010-2011). She is currently affiliated with Apollo Hospital Educational and Research Foundation (AHERF) as an Advisor and is also a member of various Committees at Indian Council of Medical Research, DST, DBT and MOHFW.
Dr. Naik has over 30 years of experience in medical education and research. She established the first specialized department of Immunology in the country at SGPGI and headed the department for many years. SGPGI was the first fully computerized hospital in the country and DR Naikwas responsible for leading the activity and implementing this project. She has vast research experience, having completed over 25 projects funded by Indian Council of Medical Research, WHO, NIH, Department of Science and Technology, CSIR, Department of Biotechnologyetc and has supervised 16 PhDs.
Dr. Naik did her medical training at Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. After completing her post-graduate training at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh she had her post-doctoral training at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, USA.