Senior Leadership

Pradeep Palazhi is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 34 years of experience in diverse sectors including Healthcare, Genomics, Precision Medicine, Synthetic Biology, SaaS, and FinTech. He has founded or played pivotal roles in numerous successful businesses such as Loyale Healthcare, ePAY Healthcare, Saath.Care, HealthVidvan, CASHNet, American HealthNet, and Calsoft. Pradeep’s expertise lies in building large platforms and SaaS products, and managing extensive solutions organizations. He is particularly passionate about creating real solutions to address significant healthcare issues affecting patients’ care and quality of life. His extensive business experience and connections span the US, UK, and India.

Currently, Pradeep serves as Co-Founder and CEO of ThinkBio.Ai, Inc., focusing on synthetic biology and high-throughput antibody research. Under his leadership, ThinkBio.Ai leverages AI to drive innovations in the BioTech, Pharma, and Healthcare sectors. His strategic leadership and deep interest in healthcare and biotech have been pivotal in harnessing the transformative power of the BioWave and AI revolution. Pradeep is also a co-founder and CIO of Alstonia.Bio, contributing to a future where technology and biology converge to enhance medical science and patient outcomes.

John Rekesh is a seasoned technology expert with over 30 years of industry experience, specializing in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence. With a strong focus on Healthcare and Life Sciences, John has made significant contributions across multiple verticals. He's a thought leader in AI, frequently hosting panel events on Generative AI and authoring insightful pieces on the nature of and surprises within AI models. John has worked with major US, European, and Japanese customers, where he has shaped technology visions and roadmaps for companies worldwide.

John holds multiple patents and has been instrumental in creating over 100 products incorporating diverse technologies. His expertise spans enterprise applications, cybersecurity, and infrastructure, with a strong emphasis on R&D and product engineering. Currently, John's interests lie in AI foundation models in healthcare and life sciences, Responsible AI, and quantum computing. As an AWS Certified Solution Architect and Cloud Practitioner, John combines forward-thinking approaches with practical know-how, enabling organizations to navigate the complex landscape of AI and enterprise solutions.

Kevin is a seasoned executive leader with extensive experience across Healthcare, Technology, FinTech, and Financial Services industries. His impressive career includes roles as CEO, President, CFO, and Managing Director/Partner, as well as Board of Directors positions. Kevin has a strong track record of building substantial enterprise value through various strategies, including growth capital funding, M&A, organic growth, cash flow enhancements, business model transformation, and turnarounds. His notable achievements include successfully leading Loyale Healthcare as CEO & CFO, where he built thriving SaaS Enterprise Technology and FinTech Payments businesses, securing major healthcare networks as customers and ultimately achieving a successful exit. As CEO & CFO of Paradigm Outcomes, he improved clinical outcomes and customer savings to industry-leading standards, doubling revenue and EBITDA, which led to a $300+ million private equity acquisition.

Throughout his career, Kevin has demonstrated expertise in value acceleration and realization, governance roles, capital readiness and funding, and sell-side M&A. As a Senior Partner at Ernst & Young, he provided consulting and audit services to many of the firm’s largest clients, managing complex projects including large-scale M&A. His industry experience spans Healthcare, Financial Services, Technology, Professional Services, and Life Sciences/Pharma. Kevin’s comprehensive skill set includes strategic advisory consulting, business strategy development, risk management, and executive mentoring. His proven ability to drive growth, optimize operations, and create monetizable value positions him at the forefront of today’s dynamic business landscape.

Michael Evans is a seasoned business leader with over three decades of experience in finance and consulting. He spent 34 years as a Senior Partner at Ernst & Young (EY), where he served as Global Industry Leader for the Real Estate, Hospitality and Construction practice. At EY, Michael held senior management roles in the US and Latin America, helping clients improve financial reporting systems, enhance performance, and streamline operations across various service lines.

Currently, Michael is the Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer, and board member for Newport LLC, a partnership focused on middle market companies’ growth and performance. He also serves on several company boards, including one specializing in Artificial Intelligence. A CPA and attorney, Michael shares his expertise as a lecturer on business planning and succession, and as an author for Forbes.com on private company growth. His diverse background and ongoing engagement with emerging technologies provides him with a unique perspective on business strategy and growth.

A physician scientist and Wharton Aresty Scholar, Dr. Shelby Kutty trained in artificial intelligence from the MIT and has a master’s degree in healthcare management from Harvard. He brings over 2 decades of experience in academic medicine, where he has led several dozens of clinical research studies in cardiology and participated in multicenter clinical trials evaluating myocardial function using computational imaging tools. He has held various leadership positions, including leading the Cardiovascular Analytical Intelligence at Johns Hopkins University, aimed at evaluating new methods to create predictive models for use in medicine. He has been working on developing technology for real-time data extraction, processing, and integration of predictive models within the IT infrastructure of health systems, as well as investigating the effects of implementation in clinical settings. In his role as CIO, Dr.  Kutty will collaborate with the ThinkBio.Ai Biotech and Healthcare teams to guide the development and deployment of AI models, leveraging his extensive experience in healthcare AI and precision medicine.

Amit Chaudhuri brings over two decades of expertise to the forefront of drug discovery and technology advancement. With a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and post-doctoral research experience at prestigious institutions like Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard University, Amit has consistently pushed the boundaries of scientific innovation. His career spans roles at CuraGen Corporation, Genentech/Roche, and MedGenome, where he focused on high-throughput proteomics and genomics technologies. At Genentech, he played a key role in early discovery research focusing on the identification and validation of therapeutic targets through cell-based assays and animal models, while at MedGenome, as Vice President of R&D, he led groundbreaking work in molecular disease analysis using NGS. His team’s development of an integrated platform for cancer vaccine discovery & creation resulted in a US patent in 2019 and multiple peer-reviewed publications.

Currently, Amit is advancing the field of biotechnology & bioinformatics on two fronts. As co-founder and Head of Antibody Engineering at Alstonia Bio, he’s developing next-generation antibodies using advanced protein engineering tools, accelerating their path to clinical evaluation. Simultaneously, at ThinkBio.Ai, he’s collaborating with AI/ML engineers to create software tools and large language models (LLMs) aimed at revolutionizing drug discovery and enhancing healthcare outcomes. Amit’s diverse experience and innovative approach continue to drive progress in the biotech and healthcare sectors, bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and practical applications.

As the CTO and founder of Feathersoft Info Solutions Private Limited, Sudhish Chandran is the driving force behind the company’s technology vision and strategy. He spearheads future technology development, focusing on the incubation of emerging technologies, fostering an innovation ecosystem, and creating industry alliances. With over a decade’s experience in delivering software solutions and cloud architecture to niche industries such as Agritech, Fintech, and Biotech, Sudhish is a seasoned executive. His expertise spans Big Data, Hadoop, AI / ML, Application Management, Enterprise Monitoring, IT Infrastructure, and Cloud Computing. Sudhish excels in implementing risk-free, server-less cloud migrations using agile methodologies.

Sudhish is experienced in building high-performance, large-scale real-time systems, microservices, and web applications. He has a stellar track record of assembling highly skilled development teams and delivering innovative solutions tailored to business needs. He is adept at crafting product and technology strategies, leveraging a strong background in consumer internet/mobile and Cloud/SaaS/Enterprise technologies, and establishing world-class technology teams from the ground up. Sudhish leads all aspects of the product lifecycle, from development and quality assurance to presales and customer support, and excels in managing geographically distributed teams.

Dr.Manoj Krishnan currently serves as the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Alstonia Bio in Kochi, where he focuses on developing engineered therapeutics for various human diseases. With a Ph.D. in biophysics from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, Dr. Krishnan completed his postdoctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine, specializing in the systems biology of human immune response. His career then led him to Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, where he conducted research on human immune system regulation and the discovery of immunotherapeutic targets using functional genomics approaches as a faculty member.

Dr. Krishnan’s entrepreneurial spirit drove him to co-found a biotechnology company dedicated to cardiovascular drug development. He later joined the mammalian Biofoundry at Ginkgo Bioworks in Boston, where he worked on developing novel gene/cell therapy modalities and biomanufacturing platforms using synthetic biology. Most recently, he headed the pharma platforms and business development at Manus Bio, deploying multiple technologies to develop gene therapy tools and biomanufacturing platforms for various drug modalities using synthetic and systems biology approaches.

Throughout his career, Dr. Krishnan has demonstrated expertise in biophysics, immunology, functional genomics, and synthetic biology, consistently applying his knowledge to advance therapeutic development and biomanufacturing technologies.

Shirley Straka is a highly experienced sales and service professional with over 30 years of expertise in healthcare information technology. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a strong commitment to customer satisfaction and business growth. She has held key roles in direct sales, sales & account management, project & product management, customer service & education and consulting, while providing IT solutions to large, complex multi-specialty physician group practice organizations, hospitals, and integrated healthcare delivery networks.

Shirley last served as the Executive Vice President of Sales at Loyale, and was responsible for driving enterprise sales, achieving over $12 million in revenue by delivering cutting-edge patient financial engagement technology to large health systems. Before joining Loyale, she was the Chief Sales Officer at Rycan – CPSI, where she led sales efforts for revenue cycle service offerings in a cloud-based environment, achieving an impressive 245% of the sales quota in the first quarter of 2016.

At ZirMed, Shirley excelled as the Regional VP, Business Development, where she was responsible for generating significant revenue through strategic partnerships and expanding the company’s market presence across 18 states in the Midwest. She has a proven track record of rapidly growing pipelines and increasing market awareness through her extensive network of executive relationships.

Shirley’s earlier experience includes senior sales roles at Athenahealth, McKesson, and RelayHealth, where she consistently exceeded sales quotas, managed large accounts, and developed successful sales strategies. Shirley’s extensive experience, strategic insight, and proven ability to drive sales growth make her an asset to any organization looking to expand its reach in the healthcare technology sector.

Dr. Malayattil Vijayalakshmi is a highly qualified medical specialist with extensive credentials, including an M.D. in Pediatrics, an M.D. in Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, and a Fellowship from the American Academy of Pediatrics (FAAP). She also holds a Diploma in Allergy and Asthma and an M.Sc. in Clinical Oncology.

With over 25 years of clinical experience, Dr. Vijayalakshmi is licensed to practice medicine in both California and India. Her diverse career spans hospital and outpatient settings in the United States and India, including managing her own chain of pediatric clinics. Dr. Vijayalakshmi has also made significant contributions to medical research, serving as Ethics Committee and Institutional Review Board (IRB) chair in various research environments. Her comprehensive background demonstrates a commitment to both clinical practice and advancing medical knowledge in pediatrics and related fields.

With over 30 years of experience spanning product management, engineering, business development, and general management, Dilip Daswani has led initiatives across industries including Financial Services, Telecommunications, Energy, and Consumer Products. As CEO of Qliktag Software, Inc., Dilip drives the vision of enabling companies to tokenize and digitally enhance their physical products through a powerful SaaS platform.

Previously, Dilip served as Vice President of Corporate Development at Triple Point Technology, a privately held company focused on providing software solutions for the Energy / Commodity Trading and Risk Management (E/CTRM) sector where he spearheaded business expansion through alliances, resellers, and acquisitions, contributing to the company’s $150 million in sales. Before that, he was President of Energy Crossroads, which was successfully acquired by Triple Point Technology in 2001.

Apurva Kalia brings over 35 years of experience as a technology pioneer, innovator, and strategic leader, with a proven track record of building scalable software platforms, defining technology strategies, and leading dynamic global teams. His expertise spans Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and computational biology, delivering groundbreaking results across industries. Apurva excels in leveraging AI/ML techniques such as generative AI, natural language processing, and feature engineering to drive innovation. He has successfully implemented cutting-edge solutions, including drug-target prediction models and molecular property predictions, achieving state-of-the-art results in his PhD research at Tufts University in Systems and Computational Biology.

As Chief Research Officer at Lumina AI Inc., Apurva created innovative, scalable solutions for at-scale data ingestion and embedding, achieving remarkable efficiency gains while securing substantial seed funding. Previously, at Cadence Design Systems, he led the R&D team for Advanced Verification Solutions, growing it from the ground up to over 200 members globally. Under his leadership, Cadence's flagship product reached $180M in annual revenue, and innovative technologies, such as patented fault simulation solutions, were introduced. His efforts also resulted in a 300% performance improvement in logic simulation over five years, strengthening partnerships with major clients like Apple, Samsung, and Texas Instruments.

Apurva's strength lies not only in his technical acumen, which includes cloud computing, parallel architectures, and complex algorithms, but also in his ability to build and scale high-performance teams. Over two decades, he has fostered team environments with attrition rates below 7%, reflecting his commitment to empathetic and hands-on leadership.

Beyond his corporate impact, Apurva is a passionate advocate for STEM education. He founded India STEM Foundation and Techtronics Education, initiatives that have impacted thousands of students and ignited interest in robotics-based learning across India. Apurva’s contributions are further highlighted by numerous publications, including research on molecular modeling and metabolomics, and patents that showcase his pioneering work in advanced verification and AI-driven solutions.