Leadership

Ravi Patel, MD, is a board-certified medical oncologist. He has done his MBBS from Government Medical College, India, and residency in internal medicine from the University of Illinois (affiliated to Ravenswood hospital). He completed his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology from Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University alongside a combined affiliated program from the Foster G. McGaw hospital. The fellowship program included bone marrow transplantation training and a combined Hematology/Oncology program.

Dr. Patel founded Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center (CBCC) that grew from a 1200 square feet office to a comprehensive, community-focused diagnostic, educational, and research-based cancer center. Dr. Patel planned to affiliate CBCC with the UCLA School of Medicine. Working with the UCLA research consortium, UCLA employees managed clinical trials alongside the center’s research staff. Several treatments that were tested at CBCC were profoundly successful and have been submitted to the Federal Government’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval. These breakthrough treatments have made it possible to manage and cure many forms of cancer globally.

For the last 30 years, Dr. Patel has been actively caring for his patients and has been serving as principal investigator in many clinical research trials at CBCC. He is globally involved with the leading pharmaceutical manufacturers and academic research programs to ensure that cancer patients in Kern County have access to the most cutting-edge medicines and treatments available across the world.

After completing his M.Sc. in Industrial Research from SP University – Gujarat, M.Sc. in Clinical Research, Cranfield University, and Diploma in Business Management from ICFAI, Manoj Vyas worked with Cliantha Research Pvt. Ltd. as General Manager – Business development for almost 6 years. His profile at Cliantha included Business Development of BA/BE, Clinical Trial, Dermatology, and Data Management Services in the domestic and international market.

He served as a Deputy Manager – Business Development at GVK Biosciences for 3 years. He was involved in the Business Development of BA/BE services in the domestic and international market, liaising and supporting management for study agreements.

At Vibgyor Scientific Research, he served as Officer – Business Development for 1 year. His role was to take care of Business development for clinical trials of medical devices, drugs, and ECG core lab projects, liaising with investigator and sponsor, and understanding and selecting appropriate ECG core lab systems.

At CBCC, he is involved in developing strategy, implementation of long term and short term plans, monitor and accomplish the principal risk of the company, manage the working of QA, BD, HR, and other functional areas, and oversee the company’s operation in-line with SOPs and applicable regulatory requirements.

She completed her M.B.B.S. and M.D. in Pathology from Shivaji University – Maharashtra, Fellowship in Cytology at the University of California – Los Angeles, and PGDBM, SLIMS Ahmedabad – Gujarat.

She has worked at Vibgyor Scientific Research as a Clinical Research Director and Co-investigator for almost one and a half years. She played a key role in establishing the site management organization and initiated various clinical research training certification programs. She was also responsible for overlooking the implementation of multiple clinical trial projects in line with service agreement and protocol, ensuring coordination with internal departments as well as external vendors. She has also worked as a Director for 6 years at Vibgyor Scientific Research. Here, she managed the overall responsibility for the service delivery and established ECG and image core (QCA, QVA, IVUS, CT Angio) laboratories.

At CBCC-Vibgyor Research, she started as a Director for 5 years. During this time, she overlooked all on-going projects to ensure they withstand all the regulatory and contractual expectations. She also established a Biorepository – a repository of annotated cancer tissue.

Currently, at CBCC, she is involved in Strategy planning for the overall growth of the organization and plays a key role in establishing early phase clinical development services, develops whitepapers/articles for publication in reputed journals/publications, actively seeks opportunities to represent the organization at national and international forums.

Jayadev Sureddi earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy from Bangalore University, India, and received a Master’s Degree from the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University.

Before assuming his current role as Director- Early Phase Clinical Development at CBCC, he served as Head- Clinical Operations and Pharmacovigilance at Jeevan Scientist Technology Limited, where he contributed to the setup of Clinical Pharmacology Center and Pharmacovigilance departments. Jayadev was instrumental in developing organizations like GVK Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., Veeda Clinical Research Pvt. Ltd. Throughout his diversified career, Jayadev held several positions with increasing responsibilities.

With over 16 years of experience in clinical research, he oversees the Early Phase Clinical Operations of CBCC in the USA.

Sanjeev brings over 20 years of commercial experience in pharmaceuticals, medical practice, managed care, biotech, and technology. Most recently, Sanjeev was on the commercial team at Ora, focused on ophthalmic clinical research globally.

He has been a part of the growth or turnaround of various size companies from as large as Pfizer, Biogen, and Valeant, to mid-size organizations such as VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies, Ophthalmic Research Associates (Ora), ISTA (part of Bausch Health), and Avanir Pharmaceuticals (part of Otsuka).

On the medical practice side, Sanjeev was VP of Corporate Development for NVISION Eye Centers and was responsible for the acquisition or divestiture of practices and entities within the NVISION practice.

On the technology side, he has worked with TrialCard (managing patient benefits), and for Sun Microsystems as well as a starting and advising multiple technology start-ups. He has served in senior commercial roles in Sales Management, Analytics & Operations management, and Marketing management in healthcare specialties ranging from Oncology, Ophthalmology, Women’s health, GI, Dermatology, and Neuroscience.

Mr. Nikhil Gandhi has completed his BS in Science and MS in Chemistry from Bombay University, India. He then worked with UPMC Shadyside Hospital as a lab supervisor for 11 years, where his responsibilities included hiring, training, scheduling, and payroll of approximately 60 employees.

He served as a Director – Business Development at Novum Pharmaceutical Research Services for 16 years and was instrumental in growing their business in the Dermatology area in addition to other therapeutic areas. He was focused on developing client relations/business opportunities with generic, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology companies in the United States and India. He coordinated all communications with Indian clients to ensure closure of the sale and was responsible for investigating potential trials and implementing the possibilities of developing clinical trial service offerings (Phase I through IV) in the United States & India.

At CBCC, we believe that with Mr. Gandhi as our Global SVP- Business Development, we will be able to support and advocate global biopharmaceutical companies in their clinical trials in the United States and India.

Avanish Mishra, Ph.D. is a distinguished life sciences executive with over 25 years of experience in global leadership roles across the life sciences industry. Combining scientific proficiency with a strong track record of business growth, Dr. Mishra has led multiple commercialization strategies and product launches exceeding $1 billion in revenue.

Dr. Mishra’s professional journey includes impactful tenures at industry leaders such as Thermo Fisher Scientific (PPD), Gilead Sciences, and Pfizer. At Thermo Fisher, he served as General Manager of Real-World Data and Global Vice President of Strategic Growth Initiatives. He was instrumental in leading the COVID-19 initiative and developing the RWD thesis for market entry. During his time at Gilead Sciences, Dr. Mishra led Global Commercial Planning for Liver Diseases, launching final assets in viral hepatitis and pivoting to new frontiers in liver diseases like Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH) and rare cholestatic liver diseases.

At Pfizer, Dr. Mishra held various leadership positions, including General Manager of the Growth Portfolio Division in Japan, where he led a $1 billion generics and diversified business. His strategic vision guided a 40x growth of a generics start-up through a partnership, catapulting Pfizer into the Top 5 generics players in Japan within three years.

Dr. Mishra’s expertise spans multiple therapeutic areas, including liver diseases, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and erectile dysfunction. He has authored numerous publications with more than 8,000 citations, highlighting his contributions to scientific research.

Throughout his career, Dr. Mishra has consistently demonstrated his ability to drive business growth, lead successful product launches, and navigate complex global markets. His multifaceted experience across the life sciences ecosystem makes him a valuable leader in the industry.

Dr. Mishra holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacy Administration from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and a Bachelor’s in Pharmacy from the University of Bombay.

Dr. Sandeep Singh is Vice President – Clinical Operations at CBCC Global Research. By qualification, he is a Medical graduate with Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research and has about 20 years of illustrious clinical trial experience.

He started his career in 2002 as a Medical practitioner. He joined industry in 2005 and worked as Cardiology Associate for one of the premier global CRO i.e. Iqvia (Formerly known as Quintiles). In Iqvia he was part of QECG lab and was responsible for QTc studies of global clinical trials.

He later joined Alkem Laboratories Limited, Mumbai in 2007 and worked as Sub-Investigator. His role was pivotal in obtaining maiden ANVISA certification for Alkem and executing submission studies for USFDA and EMA.

He later joined Unichem Laboratories Limited, Mumbai in 2009 as Deputy Manager – Clinical Research. He worked with Unichem for 6 years, earned two promotions and got relieved in 2015 as Senior Manager – Clinical Research. He was instrumental in building separate Clinical Research and Biopharmaceutics team and execution of BE studies for USFDA, EMA, ANVISA and emerging markets. He worked very closely with departments like patent, formulation development, analytical, Regulatory affairs on subjects like Biopharmaceutics, BCS based biowaiver, IVIVC etc.

Before joining CBCC, his immediate last assignment was Head – Biopharmaceutics and Project Management at Veeda Clinical Research. He joined Veeda in 2015 and worked for 1.5 years. He was instrumental in building separate Biopharmaceutics team and execution of BE studies for USFDA, EMA, ANVISA and emerging markets. He was responsible for study designing, Data evaluation, Project Management, Regulatory Affairs Protocol Writing, Report Writing, Quality Control, Pharmacokinetics and Biostatistics. He was also heading CRAMS department.

Dr. Sandeep Singh has rich experience in conducting BE studies for Regulated Markets, IVIVC, Biopharmaceutics, Generic Product Development Strategy, Bio-waiver strategy, Bridging Studies, Statistical Methodology, adaptive Clinical Study designs etc. He also had hands-on experience as a Clinical Investigator in BA/BE studies, Phase-1 Clinical trials and in ECG analysis, Interpretation & Digitalization. He had managed Outpatient departments during his active Medical Practice prior to joining Pharmaceutical Industry. He has remarkable experience in interacting with various Regulatory Authorities like USFDA, EMA, ANVISA, HPFB Canada, TGA etc.

He has completed his M. Sc. in Clinical Research from Cranfield University, UK, and he is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institution (PMI).

He has worked at Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. for 2 years as a Clinical Research Associate. He was involved in site feasibility, site initiation, site monitoring, closeout visits; acted as a Project Leader for conducting in-house Phase I studies (Mass balance studies, Safety studies, Bioavailability studies, Drug interaction studies) and Bioequivalence studies of different dosages forms.

He was associated as Clinical Project Manager at Veeda Clinical Research Pvt. Ltd. for 5 years. There, he was responsible for Client Management, Coordination with the business development team to identify the R&D facility for pilot batch development and Protocol Designing for Pharmacokinetic studies. Assist and support the Client team for timely submission of the data to different regulatory bodies.

At GVK Bioscience Pvt. Ltd., he has worked as Assistant Manager – Project Management for 1 year. There he was the primary and single-point interface with the sponsor and effectively managed all communications with the sponsor. He was involved in Periodic reporting to senior management regarding the status of projects, capacity utilization of the clinics I beds, analytical instruments, the feasibility of the project, and assisting in preparing proposals.

At Quintiles IMS, he has worked as Sr. Project Management Analyst for 2 years. He was responsible for Projects/Program delivering within Triple Constraints (Scope, Time & Cost), developing and maintaining the Project Execution Plan sections related to project tracking, trending, reporting, and changing control elements, Tracking the status of all Program/Projects, and presenting Dashboard to Senior Management.

At CBCC, he is responsible for projects’ delivery as per defined quality standards (as per protocol, service agreement, SOPs, GCP, and other applicable guidelines) and budget. Project feasibility and building site network. Review all project-related documents, including but not limited to project management tools as per CBCC SOPs.

Kinnari Gandhi has done her Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) from K.B.I.P.E.R. Gandhinagar, Gujarat, and Master of Pharmacy (M. Pharm) from M.S.University, Baroda, Gujarat.

She has worked with Veeda Clinical Research as an Analyst (Bioanalytical Research) for 2 years and as Senior Auditor (Quality Assurance) for almost 8 years. As an analyst, she developed various molecules using HPLC and LC/MS/MS systems. Apart from these, she was responsible for bioanalytical method validation, its application in project sample analysis for BA/BE studies, operation of Chromatographic software for HPLC and LCMSMS.

As the company’s Senior Auditor (Quality Assurance), she was responsible for QMS setup plus implementation, regulatory audits, vendor audits, sponsor audits, CAPA management, deviation management, trend analysis, GAP assessment, risk management, and report submission. She was also into Software and IT infrastructure validation as well as a certified GCP/GLP trainer.

At CBCC, her role comprises everything from preparing and implementing an effective QMS system for all services offered by CBCC. It includes tasks developing as well as maintaining the GCP/ICH compliant process, scheduling and overseeing audits conducted to ensure all projects are executed as per GCP norms, protocol, quality system regulations, and ISO standards wherever applicable.

He received his Bachelor of Pharmacy from Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat, and earned his Master’s in Clinical Research from the Cranfield University, UK.

He started his career with Cadila Healthcare Limited (Zydus group of companies) in 2007. He served as the program data manager of the early development business unit in immune-oncology at Novartis. He was responsible for leading a team of data managers for early development portfolios, including their development & mentorship. Before his role at Novartis, Nikunj also worked with various multinational organizations like Kendle (now Syneos), Tata Consultancy Services, and SIRO Clin-Pharm in increasing responsibilities in his career spanning more than a decade.

Having more than 12 years of experience in clinical research, he specializes in data management and related services. He is an avid believer in data science concepts and an expert in catering data-related services from therapeutic areas, including Oncology, Neurology, Pain, Osteoarthritis, Blood disorder, and Psychiatry. Currently, he manages a team of 10 members for on-going projects at various stages of execution.

He has completed his B. Pharm from Nirma University, Ahmedabad – Gujarat, and MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai – Maharashtra.

He has worked with GVK Biosciences as Assistant Manager – Business Development for 5 years. His responsibilities included driving business development efforts for BE studies in the US plus Asian countries and participating in annual strategy meetings with the management.

He served as Manager – Business Development at Veeda Clinical Research for 2 years. His role was to identify, evaluate, and prioritize potential clients for targeted business development efforts for BE studies in the US and Asian countries.

He was associated as Director – Business Development at Auram Solutions for 6 months. There, he was responsible for leading the business development efforts to meet organizational targets and overseeing all aspects of business development, including customer relationship management.

At CBCC, he leads the business development efforts and BD team to meet organizational targets. His responsibilities also include establishing and maintaining client relationships; working closely with management and team members. He also provides valuable periodic reports and updates on the status of the plan and implementation recommendations to CBCC’s management.

He completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Sciences from Saurashtra University, Gujarat, in 2004.

He later joined Cognizant Technology Solutions Infrastructure Service as an IT-Operations Executive in 2005. He played multiple key roles, such as Enterprise Systems Management Consultant, IT Infra Tower Head, IT-Service Head, Program Manager, Service Delivery & Finance Director, and Engagement Partner. During his 14+ year stint at Cognizant, he got extensive exposure to working with various customers belonging to domains like Global Shared Service, Media, Energy & Utility, Banking and Finance, and Retail spread across India, USA, UK, and the Nordics.

He shifted his base from the Nordic region when he moved to India and joined CBCC Global Research as Director – IT-Enabled Services. His key responsibilities in CBCC are to grow the Data Management business, help in Digital Transformation, and enhance the Clinical Trials Management System’s customer user experience.