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South Asian Healthcare Leadership Forum celebrates 10 years in Boston
Attendees participated in discussions on a range of topics, including the role of race in modern healthcare, and shared stories of entrepreneurship and leadership within the South Asian diaspora.
Dignitaries at the event. / Courtesy Photo
Leading physicians, policymakers, and executives gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the South Asian Healthcare Leadership Forum (SAHLF) on Sep.20, 2024, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
SAHLF, founded in 2014, is an exclusive, invitation-only organization that brings together leaders from across healthcare sectors—including government, managed care, clinical medicine, biopharma, and academia—with South Asian heritage. The group was established by a coalition of healthcare executives to unlock the potential of South Asians in leadership roles across the American healthcare system.
In his opening remarks, SAHLF co-founder and SCAN Group and Health Plan CEO Sachin H. Jain reflected on the journey of South Asian leaders in healthcare. “My father, the late Dr. Subhash Jain, came to this country 50 years ago to pursue advanced medical training with a little more than a suitcase and a dream. And there were few South Asian faces. Today, South Asians occupy positions of leadership all across American healthcare.”
Setting the tone for the event, he added, “ The question of the day is how can we do more together than we are able to accomplish individually?”Attendees participated in discussions on a range of topics, including the role of race in modern healthcare, and shared stories of entrepreneurship and leadership within the South Asian diaspora.
Attendees participated in discussions on a range of topics. / Courtesy PhotoPublic sector speakers at the event included Aneesh Chopra, former chief technology officer under President Obama; Seema Verma, CMS Administrator under President Trump; Micky Tripathi, President Biden’s National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; and Ashish Jha, President Biden’s COVID-19 response coordinator.
Private sector speakers included Prathiba Varkey, president of Mayo Clinic Health System; Sree Chagaturu, chief medical officer of CVS Health; Pooja Ika, CEO of Eternal Health; and Niyum Gandhi, CFO of Massachusetts General Hospital.
One of the event’s key conversations, led by Sahar Malik, a principal in Heidrick & Struggles’ healthcare practice, focused on breaking through the "glass ceiling" in healthcare. Participants included Simmi Singh, chief people officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts; life sciences leader Meenu Chhabra Karson; and University of Pennsylvania professor Amol S. Navathe.
Pooja Chandrashekar, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School moderated a discussion on entrepreneurship, identity, and risk aversion with leaders such as Krishna Yeshwant, managing partner at GV; Asif Dhar, Deloitte Health and Life Sciences Leader; Arun Mohan, MD, MBA; Recursion Pharmaceuticals’ Najat Khan, PhD; and Accompany Health CEO Rahul Rajkumar.
Speakers at the event. / Courtesy Photo
Reflecting on the forum’s achievements, Vishal Vasishth, managing director of Obvious Ventures and SAHLF co-founder, stated, “There is a deep sense of pride around what the South Asian community has achieved in healthcare—and we are at the beginning of new waves of contributions in digital health, care delivery innovation, and artificial intelligence. It is a remarkable outcome that can be traced to the Civil Rights movement and US leadership around immigration of skilled labor.”
In addition to Jain and Vasishth, SAHLF was co-founded by Aman Bhandari of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Aneesh Chopra (chief strategy officer, Arcadia), Pooja Chandrashekar, and Vishal Arora (McKinsey & Company and Parkland Health). The event was organized with the support of Harvard Medical School’s Kushal Kadakia.
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