Chirinjeev Kathuria is an Indian-American investor, physician, politician, businessperson, and philanthropist. He was the first Indian-American to run for the US Senate. Kathuria is the co-founder and co-chairman of UpHealth Inc. which went public on the NYSE (NYSE:UPH) and the executive chairman and co-founder of Ocean Biomedical Inc., a biotech company that partners with leading scientists and research institutions to accelerate the translation of new discoveries into breakthrough medicines. He is also the co-founder and chairman of New Generation Power International, and co-founder of PlanetSpace. Additionally, Kathuria is the co-founder and chairman of the AIRO Group. The AIRO Group brings together technologies and services in urban air mobility, commercial and military aviation, and

avionics Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fitt ...

. Kathuria ran unsuccessfully in the

2004 United States Senate election in Illinois The 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald decided to retire after one term. The Democratic and Republican primary elections were held in March, which incl ...

, in which future President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

was the winner.

Early life

Chirinjeev Kathuria was born in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

, India and came with his parents to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

at the age of eight months. He received a Bachelor of Science and Doctorate of Medicine from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University.

Career

Businessperson

Kathuria co-founded American Teleradiology NightHawks Inc., which was acquired in 2005 by NightHawk Radiology Holdings Inc.; the combined company went public on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

in 2006. In 2010 he co-founded New Generation Power International.

Space exploration

Kathuria has also been involved in space exploration, and was the Founding Director of Mircorp, the first commercial company to privately launch and fund manned space programs. Kathuria also invested in Russia's

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

space station in its final days. In 2005, Chirinjeev Kathuria co-founded PlanetSpace, a privately funded Chicago-based rocket and space travel project, which bid for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

’s Commercial Resupply Services contract with Lockheed Martin,

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

and

Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace, defense, and sporting goods company with its headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The company operated in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and other countries. AT ...

Biomedical

Kathuria co-founded Ocean Biomedical and serves as the Chairman of its Board of Directors. Ocean Biomedical is currently pursuing programs in oncology, fibrosis, infectious disease, and inflammation. He is also the co-founder and co-chairman of UpHealth Inc. which went public on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed co ...

(NYSE:UPH).

Aerospace and defense

He founded AIRO Group in 2005 which in 2021 acquired Aspen Avionics and proceeded with a merger with Coastal Defense. In the same year, Jaunt Air Mobility entered into a merger with the AIRO group.

Politician

Kathuria ran unsuccessfully in the 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois, in which future President

was the winner.

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kathuria, Chi Living people Brown University alumni Alpert Medical School alumni Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American Sikhs