ADVISORS TO THE BOARD

Dr  NINA LINDE

Director of the Institute of Economics of the Latvian Academy of Sciences Latvia

Former Advisor to the Minister for Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia

Dr Nina Linde is currently the Director of Institute of Economics of The Latvian Academy of Sciences Riga Latvia A young, successful, and enterprising woman who, along with scientific work, is engaged in business, has a practical, orderly mind that is harmoniously manifested. in everything – the ability to conduct a conversation, listen to the interlocutor, see perspectives and analyse trends in the development of society.  Dr Line graduated from the Faculty of Chemical Technology of Riga Technical University, then obtained the qualification of a German language teacher,    after a Master’s degree  and defended  her doctoral thesis at the University of Latvia, while at the same time obtaining a commercial education in Riga and a psychologist qualification at St. Petersburg State University.  She has been Former Advisor to the Minister for Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia. She has authored over 50 research articles and books on Economics and one of the most respected economists in Europe.

Mr GERHALD HOPSTEDTER

An entrepreneur and Austrian National Mr Gerhald is a Pioneer in Senior Retirement home projects across Europe . From the very beginning, Hopstedter was eager to embody new ideas and create new businesses Today Gerald Hopstedter is the Chairman of the  Indian Chamber of Commerce in Latvia and. He has his Internet portal Balticmagazine.com, through which he can present the breadth of his interests.

Mr Gerhald are now leading a project for a 225-bed nursing home as a research centre for the care of the elderly, to use scientific analysis to understand what treatment is most suitable for our retirees. It is also about avoiding unnecessary treatment, which will result in astronomical costs for the state.  The Project is LIGHTS AS. is an excellent example of the synergy of the scientific approach, business approach and goodwill to solve a pressing social problem. The number of places is limited;

The second project  Gerhald is   working on together with scientists, it is a data protection solution that not only controls data but also advises users. Regulation has now become very complex, so there must be a mechanism and information on how to introduce and use these recommendations. As a lecturer, Mr Gerhald presents  the topic of the business environment, important points and decisions from the entrepreneur’s point of view.

Mr. Varun Khanna

Mr. Varun Khanna is the Sr Director – Healthcare Business & Investments at Siloam Hospitals Group, ex-MD BD India & South Asia. Varun, a healthcare, med-tech & technology oriented senior business professional, who pivoted industries and picked new domains through his career gaining a deep insight of businesses in four diverse industries of telecom, retail, healthcare delivery, and medical technology with B2B and B2C channels. He is known for his ability to wrap his arms around new companies, quickly figure out the leverage points and chart an accelerated growth plan. He has been instrumental in business turnaround of mature multinational med-tech companies and across healthcare companies in India, South Asia, and ASEAN. Understanding customers and ability to forge win-win relationships has been a key.

Most recently as Sr. Director Healthcare Business & Investments at Siloam Hospitals, the largest Hospital and Diagnostic chain in Indonesia, facilitated a business turnaround of the core business, managed expansion profitably and scaled the business to SGD 1 billion, a growth of 66% revenue in three years and quadrupling EBITDA during the period. The market Cap for Siloam Hospitals, listed in Jakarta stock exchange grew 5X during the period.

Notable among his other achievements have been scaling the business to “next-tier” markets and enhancing reach to 700 cities as the Managing Director for Becton Dickinson in India, growing the business double digit CAGR with return on sales growth from low single digit to 20%, and impacting a turnaround at Fortis Healthcare, as Regional Director – West and East region, by amalgamating multiple hospital acquisitions to form a 1200+ bed hospital network, which grew a CAGR of 30% on account of new Clinical programs, Clinician and nursing staff motivation, addressing perception issues through unique marketing programs and a cycle to drive capex.

Varun’s dynamism and passion to understand customer challenges, with his forward thinking and a distinctive ability to seamlessly integrate customer expectations into successful and profitable projects, has made him a long-standing partner for many healthcare providers, medical device, health tech and diagnostic companies.

Varun participated in the Guinness world record for the highest number of cervical cancer screenings for Fortis Foundation and The Clean Hands to Save Life™ campaign around hand hygiene.

Boards and Trade Organizations

  • Chairman – AdvaMed India Working Group and Executive Committee (2016 – 17)
  • Co-Chair at FICCI Health Services Committee (2017 – 2019)
  • National Executive Board Member of AMCHAM (2015-17)
  • Secretary and Treasurer of NATHEALTH. (2015-17)

Dr. Aditya Gupta

Prof. Gupta has over four decades of research experience ( including the period of Ph. D). He has made significant contribution in two areas (1) )Plant Molecular biology and Genetic Engineering and (2) Functional Genomics. Prof.Gupta’s pioneer work in the area of plant molecular biology and genetic engineering. His laboratory at Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai while working on transgenic biology successfully transformed Indian cultivar of rice and raised transgenic liner having improved abiotic stress tolerance and Biotic stress (Insect resistance). Prof.Gupta lab had industry cosultancy with J.K. Agribitech Pvt Ltd., Hyderabad and developed transgenic liner harbor gene for osmotic stress tolerance and insect resistance to be used as parental lines in hybrid rice seed production. Prof.Gupta lab has also been involved in developing technology to be utilized for trait modification for abiotic stress tolerance effort of his lab resulted into isolation of OSI SAP gene which was characterized for osmotic stress tolerance when over expressed in homologous and heterologous transgenic lines of rice and tobacco. This technology was validated by different research groups in different crop plants worldwide. Prof.Gupta lab also contributed towards understanding molecular basis of root development taken tomato as model system. Efforts of his lab in due regard have resulted in to isolation of at least 10 genes expressing the root specific manner initiating their role in root structure, function and development. These genes are being validated using transgenic approach for their role in root development.

Prof. Jogeswar Panigrahi

Prof. (Dr.) Jogeswar Panigrahi completed his Master’s and Doctoral degree in Botany from Ravenshaw (Auto) College, and Utkal University, respectively. During his Ph.D. he worked on the Molecular mapping of biotic stress responsive genes in Brassica campestris syn. rapa using RFLP markers. He did his postdoctoral research at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai (2003) availing the Dr. K.S. Krishnan Research Associateship. He is also recipient of Young Scientist award from International Foundation for Science, Sweden during 2007 and an R&D Scheme worth USD 12000 in the area of Plant Genetics. To his credit, he has completed seven extramural research projects (Funded by DST, IFS, DBT, UGC, DRDO, SERB) and at present he have one ongoing project (SERB, Govt. of India), and one Centre of Excellence project (OHEPEE, Govt. of Odisha). He has successfully guided 11 Ph.D. scholars, 15 Mphil. Scholars. He has also published more than 50 research manuscripts in the journals of repute and eight Book Chapters to his credit. He has teaching/research experience of 19 years in several academic institutes of national repute such as MITS, Rayagad (2003-09), Sambalpur University (2009-16), Central University of Rajasthan (2016-2018) and Khallikote University (2018-21). He moved to Berhampur University on 1st October 2021 due to amalgamation of erstwhile Khallikote University with Berhampur University. His current area of research is Genome and transcriptome enabled understanding of pathways of secondary metabolite producing genes/QTLs in medicinal plants; Computational approaches for DNA and Protein sequence-structure-function relationships with respective biotic stress resistance in crop plants.

Dr. Simanchal Das

Dr. Simanchal Das is currently working as an Assistant Professor and Head in the Department of chemistry, Roland Institute of technology under BPUT University,Odisha. He has 09 years of research and 22 years of teaching experiences in the fields Chemistry at different levels. Dr.Das obtained Ph.D. in supramolecular chemistry from the Berhampur University, Berhampur,Odisha.M.Phil in chemistry from Madurai Kamaraj University,Madurai, and M.Sc. from Berhampur University. In his credit,he has 21 Publications [15 Research papers, 01 Book, 05 Book chapters] in international, national journals and publishers. He has issued 17 abstracts in different conferences and seminars. He has been presented twelve papers in national and international conferences. Dr.Das has organized 02 conference/workshops. He has participated and presented papers in more than fifty national, International seminars, conferences, Workshops and Faculty Development Programmes. His area of interest includes supramolecular chemistry, environmental science and material science. Dr. Das is a reviewer/editor of different national and international journals of repute. He has life member of several professional bodies like Indian Society for Technical Education(ISTE), Indian Science Congress Association(ISCA), Odisha Chemical Society(OCS), Odisha Environm Environment Society(OES) etc.