Board of Directors

Dr. Balganesh has three decades of experience in antibacterial drug discovery. As the Head of Research at AstraZeneca, Bangalore, he led the unit to deliver AstraZeneca’s first anti-tuberculosis molecule for clinical development. Before taking up his current appointment at GangaGen, in his capacity as Distinguished Scientist, he mentored drug discovery programs in various Indian National Laboratories under the Government of India’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

Dr. Balganesh’s research experience is in the area of infectious diseases. He led the diarrheal diseases and broad-spectrum anti-bacterial project teams at AstraZeneca, Bangalore. He then went on to lead the anti-tuberculosis program. He has more than 30 publications and 10 patents to his name.

Dr. Balganesh is trained as a Medical Microbiologist at the University of Calcutta. He gained his post-doctoral experience at Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin. Dr. Balganesh has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Uppsala in recognition of his work in tuberculosis and malaria. He is on the review panel of drug discovery programs like the ‘Innovative Medicines Initiative’; a European Union program to seeking novel treatments for Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. He continues to guide research programs in several National Laboratories in India. He is also a mentor and reviewer of programs initiated by the Wellcome Trust and the Gates Foundation in India.

Dr. Ajith Kamath has over 30+ years of preclinical drug discovery experience at Pfizer (14 years in US and 4+ years in India ). Dr. Ajith has held leadership roles at Jubilant Biosys and Mitra Biotech. He has also mentored many biotech start-ups .

He has been instrumental in the delivery of two oncology drugs which are in Phase I. He has over 35 publications, and has presented at 100+ national and international conferences.

He is the recipient of many awards, including Pfizer’s PGRD Achievement Award and Jubilant’s Leadership Awards.

He obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from IISc and carried out postdoctoral studies at the Univ. of Texas – Austin and Stanford University.

Kumud Sampath is a director at Gangagen Biotechnologies Private Limited, based in Bangalore, India. She has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, having previously served as President and Executive Director of AstraZeneca India (Pvt) Ltd.

She was also associated with Sequent Research Limited and US Pharmacopoeia-India Inc. With a strong background in corporate leadership, she has played a key role in biotechnology and research-driven organizations.

Registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), she continues to contribute to the industry through her leadership and expertise in scientific advancements.

Mr. Chiaranussati founded Real Estate Capital Asia Partners (RECAP), a series of Opportunistic Pan-Asian real estate private equity funds, in late 2004. RECAP I, II and III have a successful 10-year cumulative track record and $1.7 billion in invested capital. In July 2014, RECAP IV, with a target of $750 million, was launched with a first close in September of the same year. A final close of $850mm was achieved December 5, 2014.

Mr. Chiaranussati leads RECAP’s team of 23 professionals, and has provided key leadership and direction since its inception. Mr. Chiaranussati serves as Chairman of the Investment Committee and participates in acquisition, value enhancement and realization activities.

Before forming RECAP, he spent six years with Westbrook Partners and Westbrook Real Estate Partners (WREP). He opened WREP’s Asia office in Singapore in March 1999 and served as a Managing Director responsible for WREP’s Asian investment activities till late 2004.

Before joining WREP, Mr. Chiaranussati spent seven years at J.P. Morgan, based in Singapore and covering Southeast Asia, where he served as a Vice President in the Proprietary Investment and Investment Banking Groups, focusing on real estate and financial institutions. Prior to that, he worked with Temasek Holdings, an investment holding company of the Government of Singapore and the Central Bank of Thailand.

Mr. Chiaranussati received an Honors Degree in Economics in 1986 from the London School of Economics and a Masters of Science in Management Science in 1987 from Imperial College in London.

Dean Cash is Chairman and CEO of ATEL Capital Group, a San Francisco based international financial services company, founded in 1977. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Math followed by an MBA from Florida State University. Mr. Cash began his career in 1975 as a systems engineer with Electronic Data Systems (EDS). He then worked for General Electric Corporation in the medical systems division installing computerized patient record systems around North America.

Mr. Cash later transferred to GEISCO, General Electric’s information systems division, selling computer time sharing to financial institutions in the Bay Area.

He joined ATEL in 1981 as Director of Marketing, became Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 1983, and a Director in 1984. In 2000 he purchased a majority interest in ATEL and became its Chairman and CEO.

Mr. Cash owns a controlling interest in Hawaiian Building Maintenance, the largest Honolulu based building services company with approximately 700 employees.

Mr. Cash is active within the non-profit community and serves on the Board of Governors of the San Francisco Symphony as well as the board of The Florida State University Foundation. He and his wife Eliza established the ATEL Foundation, a private philanthropic organization dedicated to providing funding to organizations that seek to better the lives of citizens in their respective communities.

He has lived in San Francisco since 1977. Married to Eliza in 1985, they have two sons – Max and Sam who work with their father at ATEL Capital Group, both are graduates of the University of Southern California.

Mr. Vinod Jadhav is Chairman of SAVA Healthcare Limited and Devtech M2M Limited. He founded SAVA Group (www.savaglobal.com) in 2003. It has grown to be a full-fledged pharmaceutical organization with facets like Contract Research and Manufacturing (CRAM), Domestic and International Marketing, Veterinary drug marketing and herbal extract manufacturing with 2 GMP compliant manufacturing units in India and presence in 30+ countries through network of associates and own marketing offices.

Mr. Vinod Jadhav started his professional career in 1990 after completing Mechanical Engineering from Cusrow Wadia Institute of Technology, Pune. His 30 years of experience includes Sales & Marketing, Supply Chain Management, International Taxation, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs in various capacities.

Mr. Leow has had 40 years of experience as a corporate lawyer in New York and Singapore, and as an investment banker and financial adviser in Southeast Asia.