Rehan A.Khan
Managing Director, MSD in India

Rehan A. Khan joined MSD in India in January 2020 as Managing Director, India Region. He is responsible for driving MSD’s business in India, in-line with the company’s vision of providing patients access to critical therapies.

Rehan is an accomplished international leader with over 20 years of experience in leading large multinational companies across various markets including India, South Asia, Greater China, Southeast Asia and across Asia Pacific.He has been the President Asia Pacific of DaVita, a NYSE-listed dialysis services provider with presence across 50 cities in Asia.Earlier, Rehan was the MD and Executive Director of Abbott India Ltd, a publicly listed Pharma company.Prior to relocating to Asia, Rehan spent over a decade across Europe and in the US with Novartis, Accenture and with Venture Media LLP.

More recently, Rehan was an entrepreneur and founder of First Penguin Capital, a Dubai & Singapore based early stage fund focused on investing in health and consumer tech startups. He has also been an advisor to and board member of several healthcare companies and private equity funds across Asia and Africa.

Rehan is an alumnus of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and graduated with an MS in Health Sciences from the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences – a joint program between Harvard Medical School and MIT.He has an MBA from Drexel University and a BS from the University of Wisconsin.

Neelima Dwivedi
Senior Director, Public Policy, Corporate Communications & Market Access

Neelima is a senior professional with over 25 years of experience in Corporate affairs, Public Policy, CSR & Philanthropy. She has a strong blend of global and local expertise having played an instrumental role in developing government affairs strategies, policy advocacy, reputation management and public private partnerships at PepsiCo, MSD, DuPont & Monsanto where she has served as part of the country leadership team. Her last stint was at Microsoft, where she served as Group Head & Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy and was responsible for driving Policy & Regulatory Affairs for Microsoft India, across all businesses.

Having worked in the challenging environment across these diverse industries, she understands that proactive stakeholder’s engagement, cultivating relationships & Issue Management are the important prerequisite of commercial success. Neelima has driven public private partnership initiatives across several states in India. She has been part of several Govt’s Steering committees such as in Agriculture- 12th Five years plan on Agriculture Extension, & Public Private Partnerships, Doubling Farmer’s income of MOA. She also contributed to Food Processing Committee chaired by Secretary Ministry of Food Processing and led several working groups & Advocacy committees of Industry Associations. She also participated of the national COVID-19 response core committee of Telemedicine.

Neelima has had an earlier stint with MSD India between 2013-2016 as Senior Director, Corporate Affairs. During her earlier stint she also led MSD for Mothers in India which was a multimillion-dollar engagement & partnerships with public health organizations. She also led initiatives across ASEAN countries as a special assignment to support Women Health Business at MSD.

Neelima completed her master’s from Ranchi University.

Dr. Rohit Ghatule
Medical Director, India

Rohit serves as the primary country level contact for Medical Affairs (MA) in India; develops and drives the MA strategy for India. He is responsible for creating and maintaining a high-performing and highly compliant team across all product portfolios of the organisation. He is a part of the India Leadership Team.

Prior to this role, Rohit joined MSD as India Oncology Medical Lead in October 2020 and has been key in engaging internal and external stakeholders in supporting the launch of additional indications for pembrolizumab (Keytruda).

Rohit began his corporate career in 2012 and has worked in Medical Affairs roles of progressively increasing responsibility at Eisai, Roche and Novartis. While at Novartis, he led the Oncology medical team in cross-functional initiatives across various cancer therapeutic areas, including Breast cancer, Lung Cancer, Melanoma & Immuno-Oncology.

Rohit completed his MD in Pharmacology from Banaras Hindu University and graduation from Grant Medical College.

Tanzeem Siddiqui
Director-Commercial Operations and Public Markets

Tanzeem leads the Commercial Operations team, providing insights, diagnostics and education for achieving brand health, enabling sales team performance excellence and providing decision enabling information through analysis of internal and external performance parameters. He is also responsible for supporting the Sales Force Effectiveness growth initiatives of the organisation. Additionally, he leads the Public Markets team to deliver business targets through central and state accounts. He is part of the MSD India Leadership Team.

Tanzeem comes to MSD India from Abbott where he spent more than 8+ years and held leadership positions across multiple divisions. Last, he served as Director Business Effectiveness and led a team of 100+ employees across shared services, analytics & in-house advertising agency.

With two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Tanzeem’s expertise include commercial excellence, strategic planning, sales leadership, marketing, market research and business development. Tanzeem has worked with AstraZeneca in multiple roles across marketing, strategic planning, business development and market research.

Tanzeem has completed an Executive General Management Program from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

Saumick Pal
Director & Chief Digital Officer

Saumick leads the Digital & Data Analytics team to help create sustainable innovative business models using analytics, insights mining, design thinking, user experience and storytelling. He is also responsible for the design and execution of a future-ready digital strategy for MSD India that adds value to our stakeholders and drives growth in this digital era.He is part of the India Leadership Team.

Saumick joins MSD India from Dr. Reddy’s Labs where he was Head of Innovation and had set-up Pill+ Revenue streams around Digital Therapeutics, Platforms-as-a-Service, Devices & Wearables, Channel Innovation strategy & GTM through build/buy/borrow models. Earlier, Saumick was with Abbott Labs as the Associate Director- Strategy & Projects, where he led one of India’s largest Strategic Marketing and Revenue ecosystem project- DSTx (Diagnostic led Pill+ Service).

Saumick has more than 15 years of experience and has worked across multiple industries to advise CEOs & Commercial Directors on innovation, culture change, marketing & communication. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Innovation and Design Thinking. He is also a Certified Experience Analyst and a published author.

Arun R Hegde
Director, Oncology Business

Arun R Hegde joined MSD in India as Director - Oncology Business in December 2016. Arun comes with over 26 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry across various roles. Prior to joining MSD in India, he worked with healthcare organizations such as Fulford India Limited, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Mylan Pharmaceuticals Private Limited.

With expertise in various domains of pharmaceutical and life sciences industries, in areas across cardiac business, primary care business, hematology oncology and oncology portfolios, Arun manages complex business challenges with strong work ethics. He possesses functional expertise in P&L management, strategy market access, key account management, setting up a new business unit and grooming talent. Arun has played an instrumental role in launching and establishing biosimilar MAbs as a key business growth driver for established and start-up organizations.

Arun holds a B.Sc; PGDMS and an MBE from IIM, Kolkata.

Sameer Tamhane
Senior Director – Human Resources Business Partner

Sameer Tamhane joined MSD in India in February 2004. He is an experienced professional with three decades of industry experience in human resource management, employee relations and administration. Prior to joining MSD, he worked in various industry domains, such as consumer durable (Godrej-GE), information technology (Silverline & Blue Star software), industrial products (Owens Corning), mutual funds (Reliance Capital) and pharmaceutical (Aventis).

Sameer is an expert in Strategy, M&A, Change Management, Business & Leadership and Coaching & Mentoring. He has been a Governing Board Member/Advisor and visiting faculty to various leading management institutes in India. Sameer is also on the Adhoc Board of Studies of Mumbai University.

Sameer was the recipient of WILL award for Gender Diversity in 2014.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Management Studies (MMS) with specialization in Human Resources from Mumbai University. Sameer has successfully completed the Merck Sigma Executive Belt. He has attended various leadership programs, including Business Leadership programs from Dukes University, USA.

Chand Berry
Director – Finance, MSD India

Chand is responsible for the Finance functions within MSD India and provides strong business support while managing projects and initiatives to strengthen the financial environment of MSD India. He is a member of the MSD India Leadership Team.

Prior to this, Chand has served as the Finance Director for MSD Saudi Arabia for three years where he has demonstrated strong leadership in enhancing the financial management processes and internal controls, and successfully implementing the new Finance Operating Model (FOM) and multiple systems, including COMET and Rapid Response. Chand was also responsible for Distribution & Distributor relation management in Saudi Arabia, worked closely with the CTC team for the improvement in the Gross to Net, VAT mitigation, inventory management and the commercial model optimization

Chand joined MSD India in 2009 as the Internal Auditor & Risk Manager, and has held several positions of increasing responsibility. In 2015, Chand was appointed to Finance Director of Animal Health India and subsequently moved to MSD Saudi Arabia in 2017.

Prior to joining MSD, Chand worked for Ranbaxy Ltd., Unichem Laboratories Ltd., Panacea Biotech Ltd. & JCBL Ltd. Chand is an Accounting Apprentice from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India & Master of Commerce from HNB Garhwal University. He also holds a PGDBA degree from Symbiosis Pune & is a Certified Fraud Examiner from Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, USA 

Dr. Mamta Singh
Director – Regulatory Affairs & Compliance, MSD India

Mamta oversees all regulatory activities in India and surrounding countries and ensures that all government and company regulations are complied with. She is also responsible for driving strong collaborations across internal functions and external stakeholders, while driving regulatory innovation and efficient processes. She is a part of the MSD India Leadership Team.

Mamta joined MSD India from Abbott Healthcare. She has also worked with Baxalta Bioscience, Elli Lilly, INC Research and Sanofi Pasteur, in her 19+ years of rich experience in leadership positions in Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs, Pharmacovigilance, Clinical Trial Site Start up, Regulatory Record Management (eTMF), Product Supply Quality Control, Employee Engagement, Matrix Management in healthcare and pharmaceutical/biotech R&D industry.

Mamta has an M. Phil and a Ph.D degree in Organic Chemistry from Delhi University.

Muralidhar V Karanam
Director - Legal & Compliance, Office of General Counsel, MSD India

Mr. Muralidhar V. Karanam is the Director – Legal and Country Compliance, India and for the neighboring markets. He joined MSD India in June 2015 with varied domain experience in Legal Affairs, Compliance and Privacy.

He has worked in various MNCs including TCS, Honeywell, Novartis Healthcare, for multiple regions/jurisdictions. His work experience spans across Healthcare, IT/ITES, Automation, Aerospace, Retail and Pharma sectors, in both UK and India. His proven accomplishments include implementing and monitoring strategic decisions as well as negotiating and evaluating value propositions.

Prior to joining MSD India, Mr. Karanam was Legal Head for Novartis Healthcare and was instrumental in setting up the Legal function and implementing the Privacy strategy for India and Asia.

Mr. Karanam holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from Osmania University and Master’s Degree in International Business Laws from United Kingdom. Post his education, he worked in UK with various organizations and institutions, including the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital, NHS Trust.

Sukriti K. Soni
Director – Vaccines

Sukriti joined MSD in India in 2011 and is the Business Unit Director for Vaccines.She has over 19 years of experience in pharma sales, marketing, strategic planning & commercial leadership, across various TAs including respiratory & infectious diseases, chronic diseases and vaccines.She has a rich experience of leading in diverse markets in Asia Pacific

Prior to her role at MSD in India, she was Business Unit & Strategy Director at MSD in Vietnam & Regional Marketing Director Asia Pacific for Vaccines. Previously, Sukriti has worked at Sanofi Pasteur, Ranbaxy Pharma and Panacea Biotec Ltd.

Sukriti holds a Bachelor's degree in Science (Chemistry Hons.) from Banaras Hindu University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from MAISM in Jaipur.

Neeru Sharma Anand
Business Unit Director – Hospital Acute Care (HAC)

Neeru leads the sales and marketing teams of the HAC business to achieve their performance targets, while being involved in strategic planning and implementation of MSD India’s overall sales & marketing mandate, nurturing and developing impactful future leaders and driving a vibrant cross functional culture of collaboration. She is a part of the MSD India Leadership Team.

Neeru comes to MSD India from Merck, US where she was the Global Marketing Director for Anti-Infectives. Prior to the US stint, Neeru had joined MSD India in 2008 as Marketing Manager (HCV & HIV) and grew to Associate Director – Market Access.

Neeru’s two decades of vast and diverse experience in the pharmaceutical industry, spans across multiple business functions that include Global Marketing, Market Access, Business development, Sales and Marketing (Commercial Operations). Neeru has also worked with other pharma majors like Eli Lilly & Co, Wockhardt and Sanofi. Neeru is an MBA in Marketing from Amity University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Guru Jambeshwar University.

Manjunath Moodbidri
Associate Director – Information Technology (IT)

Manjunath Moodbidri is the India IT Country Leader and is responsible for driving a robust IT strategy by partnering with the country and regional business stakeholders for delivering a digitally enhanced, high-business performance.Manjunath oversees the alignment of the IT deliverables and practices through a collaborative approach with local, regional and global strategies of the organization.

Manjunath was an entrepreneur before his first corporate stint with MSD India.He has over two decades of professional experience in IT across multiple domains such as digital transformation, social media, data analytics, field force productivity, integrated customer engagement and automation of support functions.

Manjunath has a Master’s degree in Management Studies (MBA) in Information Technology. He is a certified Project Management Professional from Project Management Institute, USA. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce.

Alok Sengupta
Director – Business Development

Alok leads Business Development and is responsible for expanding MSD India’s business presence and driving the company’s growth strategy by identifying, evaluating and executing investments and strategic partnerships.Alok also extends Business Development support to countries in South East Asia. He is part of the MSD India Leadership Team.

Alok joins MSD India from Schering Plough where he served as Manager Market Analytics

With over 14 years of experience across Pharma and Biotech industry, Alok’s expertise includes identifying in-organic growth opportunities, execution of Business Development projects across multiple countries, lead teams from diverse functions and execution of specific pan-organization projects.

Alok has worked with PharmARC Analytic Solutions India (an IQVIA Company) and RR Donnelley India Limited.

Alok holds a Master’s degree with Distinction in Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore; a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management from IMT Ghaziabad; Executive Certification in Mergers & Acquisitions and Business Analytics from IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta respectively; Certification in Design Thinking from INSEAD and has completed his Certification in Project Management from Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore.

Dr. Monisha Sharma
Therapeutic Area Head- South East Asia, GCTO

Dr. Monisha Sharma is currently the Therapeutic Area Head, Global Clinical Trial Operations for South East Asia cluster (India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines) and the India Lead for Merck Women’s Network (MWN) in India. She leads a team across South East Asia and oversees end-to-end clinical research activities in the cluster. She is part of MSD India Leadership Team.

Monisha joined MSD India from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, where she worked as a Senior Resident, Department of Pharmacology, and then Pool Officer, Department of Pharmacology, AIIMS, New Delhi.

Monisha’s experience of more than two decades spans both academia and industry. Her key expertise includes strategic/change management initiatives and building and leading high-performance teams.

Monisha is a Ph.D. in Neuropharmacology and has a Master’s degree in Science in Pharmacology from the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, India. She is a certified Project Management Professional from Project Management Institute, USA and has a Green belt in Lean Six Sigma processes. Monisha has, to her credit, several publications in global peer-reviewed medical journals.