Vasant Narasimhan
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Vasant "Vas" Narasimhan (born August 26, 1976) is an American physician and the
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...
. He succeeded Joseph Jimenez who left
Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...
in 2018. He briefly worked at McKinsey before joining Novartis in 2005, where he has held a range of leadership roles, including Global Head of Development for Novartis Vaccines and Global Head of Drug Development & Chief Medical Officer.


Early life

Narasimhan was born in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
in 1976 to
Iyengar Iyengars (also spelt Ayyangar or Aiyengar, pronounced ) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, whose members follow Sri Vaishnavism and the Visishtadvaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja. Iyengars are divided i ...
Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...
parents who originated from
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
, India. His parents came to the US from India in the 1960’s and early 1970’s and started the Shri Venkateshwara temple in Penn Hills, Pittsburgh which he has stated was influential in his upbringing. Narasimhan's mother was a nuclear engineer for Public Service Electric and Gas Company and his father was an executive at Hoeganaes Corporation. Narasimhan received his bachelor's degree in biological sciences from
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, his M.D. from
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
and his master's degree in
public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...
from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. During his undergraduate and post-graduate studies, he worked on public health programs including the National HIV Treatment Program in Botswana, the
American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...
in
The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...
and child poverty in India.
Paul Farmer Paul Edward Farmer (October 26, 1959 – February 21, 2022) was an American medical anthropology, medical anthropologist and physician. Farmer held an MD and PhD from Harvard University, where he was a Harvard University Professor, University ...
and Jim Kim were his mentors and thesis advisors.


Career


Early career

After his first year of medical school, Vas went to
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
, India to work with street children and child laborers for three months. He later worked on malaria and HIV/AIDS in Tanzania and he did his thesis on multidrug resistant tuberculosis in Peru. Narasimhan joined McKinsey & Co, as a consultant and engagement manager for two years and was recruited by Novartis in 2005. He spent eight years working in Novartis Vaccines, and was the Global Head of Development, Novartis Vaccines in the US between 2012 and 2014 before moving to Sandoz as Global Head of
Biopharmaceutical A biopharmaceutical, also known as a biological medical product, or biologic, is any pharmaceutical drug product manufactured in, extracted from, or semisynthesized from biological sources. Different from totally synthesized pharmaceuticals, t ...
s and Oncology Injectables. From 2014 to 2016, he was the Global Head of Development for Novartis Pharmaceuticals. From 2016 to 2018, he held the role of Global Head of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer within the company.


Novartis chief executive (2017–present)

On September 5, 2017, Narasimhan was named CEO of
Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...
, succeeding Joseph Jimenez. He publicly stated his desire to focus Novartis from a diversified company to a pure-play medicines company. He also advocated for development of key technologies and capabilities in advanced therapy platforms, such as cell therapy and
gene therapy Gene therapy is Health technology, medical technology that aims to produce a therapeutic effect through the manipulation of gene expression or through altering the biological properties of living cells. The first attempt at modifying human DNA ...
, RNA therapeutics, and radioligand therapy. As part of his strategy, Narasimhan has divested the joint consumer healthcare venture to GSK, the spin-off of
Alcon Alcon Inc. () is a Swiss-American pharmaceutical and medical device company specializing in eye care products. It has a paper headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland but its operational headquarters are in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, where it ...
, and the exit of a stake in
Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational corporation, multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, ...
as well as pushed for the acquisition of
Advanced Accelerator Applications Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA or Adacap) is a France-based pharmaceutical group, specialized in the field of nuclear medicine. The group operates in all three segments of nuclear medicine (PET, SPECT and therapy) to diagnose and treat ser ...
, Endocyte, AveXis, and The Medicines Company. In February 2018, three months after becoming CEO, Narasimhan apologized to Novartis employees after it was revealed that Novartis had signed a $1.2 million year-long contract with President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen's consulting firm in February 2017. In 2019, in response to an FDA investigation about manipulated data involving Zolgensma, Narasimhan defended the company's decision to delay informing the FDA and also announced the company was forcing out scientists who were involved in the manipulated data. Brian Kaspar maintained his innocence and was later hired by other gene therapy companies. https://endpts.com/looking-to-leave-zolgensma-data-manipulation-scandal-behind-brian-kaspar-emerges-at-a-new-gene-therapy-player/ As part of a "more comprehensive commitment to ethics”, Narasimhan has moved to settle long standing bribery and anti-trust cases facing Novartis in the US, China, Vietnam and Greece.


Memberships

Narasimhan is a member of the U.S.
National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...
and a member of the board of fellows of
Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...
. Since February 2023, he has been the chair, and is also former board member and treasurer of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). He is on the board of African Parks, a nonprofit conservation organization, and since December 2022 is the chair of the board.


Recognition

In 2015, ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...
'' listed Narasimhan 7th in their '
40 under 40 ''Fortune'' magazine's 40 Under 40 is a list of individuals the publication considers to be the most influential young leaders for the year. The list has existed in two phases: From 1999 to 2003, the list was presented purely as a numeric rankin ...
' list.


Personal life

Narasimhan married Srishti Gupta in 2003, after meeting her at Harvard while organizing an Asian cultural festival. They have two children and live in
Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
, Switzerland. Narasimhan is a
vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
.


References


External links


CNBC Interview: Vasant Narasimhan at the China Development Forum in Beijing, 2018
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narasimhan, Vasant 1976 births American health care chief executives Members of the National Academy of Medicine University of Chicago alumni Harvard Medical School alumni Novartis people Living people Harvard Kennedy School alumni American people of Indian Tamil descent Chief executives in the pharmaceutical industry