Dr. Villoo Morawala-Patell is an Academic Entrepreneur who founded Avesthagen in 1998. Avesthagen is globally recognized as a leading systems biology company with a unique model focused on the convergence of food, pharma and population genetics. A convergence that leads to continuous and path-breaking innovations in predictive, preventive, personalized healthcare. Owing to her pioneering work in the field of molecular biology, Dr. Patell has long-standing professional relationships with individuals, institutions and corporates working in the domain of biotechnology across the world. She is a key member of the Task Force and Vision Group for Biotechnology, instituted by the State Government of Karnataka and founding member of the Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE). Dr. Patell was Awarded the 'Officer of the National Order of Merit' by the President of the French Republic in April 2008.
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Mr. Koen Wentink
Chief Corporate Affairs

Mr. Koen Completed his Master of Science Degree in Agriculture (Crop Science) at Wageningen Agricultural University. The Netherlands with Majors in Plant Breeding, Crop Modeling and Business Administration, he has immense experience in productivity improvement and management control in Europe and Asia in diverse businesses. Here at Avesthagen he is a member of the management team and responsible for ensuring corporate and legal functions of the company.

Dr. Vasant Gandhi
Executive Vice President, Corporate Business Development, Avesthagen Healthcare, and General Counsel, Avesthagen Ltd.

Dr. Gandhi has broad transactional and cross-functional expertise in legal, corporate development (licensing, alliance management, technology transfer and strategy), and commercial and development operations in the life sciences space. His professional experiences include Abraxis Bioscience (now Celgene), Amgen, Immunex Corporation and the National Cancer Institute.

He holds degrees in law, science, and business.

Mr. Pierre Socha
Senior Vice President
Corporate Strategy & Planning

Pierre specialises in finance and strategy in the fields of life sciences and clean techs. He joined Avesthagen in 2002 and is heading the group corporate strategy since 2005. His role covers strategy development and implementation, corporate finance, competitive intelligence, global alliances, M&As and PMI. Over the years he held several management positions at Avesthagen: CEO, bioNutrition Division (2008-2010), Managing Director - Europe (2004-2008) and Head Business Development, Biomarkers & Diagnostics (2002-2004). Pierre serves on several boards and industry bodies. Prior to joining us, he worked as auditor and financial engineer for KPMG and Natixis (aka. Natexis Banques Populaires) respectively and as a research fellow at GREQAM-CNRS, France where he focused on game theory in clean techs and environmental economy.


Pierre holds a MSc (Hons) in Environmental Economics from Université de Provence (Aix-Marseille I), Faculty of Economy & Management (GREQAM, CNRS), France and a BSc. in Finance & Econometrics (Math Spe.) from Université Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg I), Faculty of Finance & Economy (BETA, CNRS), France. He attended the Strategy program (SBSCA) at Harvard Business School, MA-USA, Clean Energy program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MA-USA and the Marketing program of Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), CA-USA. Pierre is currently a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) candidate.

Dr. Anil Ram Chauhan
Senior Vice President
Operations

Dr. Anil Ram Chauhan is a gold medalist from HPU and earned his Ph.D. in Genetics from College of Basic Sciences (PAU) and a MBA in International Business from Baruch College , New York. In 1984, he topped the Indian Agri. Scientists Recruitment Board in Plant Breeding. He has worked as Vice President (Marketing) in Indo-American Hybrid Seeds and as Business Head in Deepak Agro Solutions Limited and Emergent Genetics India Private Limited.

Dr. Sami N Guzder
Chief Scientific Officer
Science & Innovation

Sami N. Guzder obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry and a M.Sc. in Biochemistry from University of Bombay. He was awarded a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Louisiana State University for research on the isolation and characterization of DNA repair proteins from Drosophila melanogaster. Postdoctoral research work at the University of Rochester, New York, focused on dissecting the molecular basis of DNA repair processes in yeast and human. As a Research Scientist at the Center for Molecular Science, University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston he continued his work in the area of DNA repair and transcription.

At Avesthagen Dr. Guzder is Chief Scientist for the Science & Innovation division. Dr. Guzder is involved in the design and supervision of diverse R&D projects resulting in the development of molecular diagnostics for various diseases. Dr. Guzder is currently leading The AVESTAGENOME Project^TM, which is a population genomics and systems biology based study on the Parsi population to uncover the basis of longevity and discovery of novel biomarkers and drug targets for certain diseases.

Dr. Renuka Jain
Chief Scientific Officer
bioNutrition

Renuka Jain obtained her B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in Botany from Jiwaji University, Gwalior. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Botany from Jiwaji University, Gwalior for research on the regulation of petal senescence. Dr. Jain then spent 3 years at the Umea Plant Science centre, Sweden and another year at University of Missouri-Columbia, USA for her post-doctoral research.

Mr. Manan Bhatt
Senior Vice President
External Relations

Manan Bhatt has 27 years' rich experience in business development of Indo-European technology and investments having worked with MNCs such as IRI and ENI groups of Italy and BNP-Paribas of France. He also had 4yrs tenure with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) as the Representative of India in France, for the promotion of Indo-French technology investments and business partnerships.

He has a management degree in international economic relations from the prestigious 'Center for Higher Studies on Africa and Modern Asia' (CHEAM) in Paris, (1995-96). Since July 2003, Mr. Bhatt is working as senior vice president (external relations) with Avesthagen.