Praava Health Adds World-Renowned Group of Industry Experts to Global Advisory Council

Praava Health, Bangladesh’s fastest-growing healthcare brand, recently announced the addition of four new members to its Global Advisory Council. The new additions supplement an impressive array of industry experts and entrepreneurs with deep expertise within the fields of healthcare and technology and bring the Council to 28 industry leaders.
 

The new members include:
 

• Dr. Omar Ishrak, Chair of the Board of Directors, Intel Corporation and Former Chairman & CEO, Medtronic

• Robert Berg, Founding Member, Iridescent Data

• Fredrik Debong, Co-Founder and Chief Compliance Officer, hi.health, also cofounder of mySugr.com and pioneers.io

• Lorraine Marchand, Executive Managing Director, Enterprise Solutions and Strategic Partnerships, Merative (formerly IBM Watson Health) and Adjunct Professor, Columbia Business School

Founder and CEO of Praava Health, Sylvana Q. Sinha noted, “As we move into our next phase of growth, the support and advice of our newest advisors is incredibly helpful in reaching our new goals. Each is an impressive leader in healthcare. We already have gained deeply from their insights in healthcare and healthcare technology as well as best business practices and financial oversight, as we aim to bring the latest best practices and innovations to the delivery of healthcare in South Asia. I am particularly grateful for Dr. Ishrak’s long-term support and guidance, as a successful business leader and healthcare innovator and indeed the first Bangladeshi CEO of a Fortune 500 company.”

Sinha added, “I feel incredibly fortunate that these prominent industry experts have offered to join our already strong Advisory Council, helping us to stay connected to the latest trends in healthcare across the world and bring these learnings to the way we provide care in Bangladesh. In turn, we believe Praava’s lessons can inform the trajectory of healthcare globally as well. Praava has grown quickly since the company’s founding in 2018, and has demonstrated remarkable success – generating $8 million in revenue, growing an average month-over-month by 20%, and becoming EBITDA positive in 2021. Having already served more than 400,000 patients, we expect to serve 1 million patients by 2024, and 5M+ by 2027. It is an incredible gift to have so many strong and wise advisors who are so committed to our patients and Praava’s long-term success.”

As part of their involvement with Praava Health, all 28 members participated in a Praava investor event held in New York City on April 27, 2022. A video of the event can be found here. 

About the New Members

Dr. Omar Ishrak
Omar Ishrak is Chairman of the Board at Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Chairman and CEO of Medtronic. Previously, Ishrak was President and CEO of GE Healthcare Systems. He also held leadership positions at Diasonics/Vingmed, and various product development and engineering positions at Philips Ultrasound. He grew up in Bangladesh and earned a Bachelor of Science degree and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of London, King's College. He is a Fellow of King’s College. He was inducted to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows in 2016 and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2020. Ishrak serves on the Board of Directors of Cleveland Clinic, Cargill, and Amgen. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Asia Society and is a Senior Advisor to Blackstone Life Sciences.
 

Robert Berg
Robert Berg currently serves as an advisor to several emerging companies through his company, Iridescent Data. He started his career working on his own ventures, then as a Small Business Development consultant, and then went to work for large business service companies, such as Coopers & Lybrand Consulting, PwC, IBM, and IRI. After leaving his last position, Robert has returned to working with emerging companies on building better data and analytical assets and using them to make better decisions and improve revenue and profitability. A partial list of companies with which Robert has worked include Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, Pfizer, and Unilever as well as many companies in the retail, data, media and professional services industries.
 

Fredrik Debong
Fredrik Debong is a Swedish medical computer scientist and serial entrepreneur, based in Vienna, Austria. He is a Co-Founder and Chief Compliance Officer of hi.health, and also co-founded of mySugr.com and pioneers.io, and a steering committee member of frontiershealth.com. He also advises and invests in healthcare companies. mySugr.com (founded in 2012) is the market leader in mobile diabetes management and changed the view on mobile health and digital diabetes care on a global scale; the company was acquired by Roche Diagnostics in 2017. pioneers.io (founded in 2009) changed the view on entrepreneurship in Europe; the company was acquired by startup300.com in 2018. hi.health (founded in 2019) is a payment services company integrated with health insurances, removing payment and admin from the patient and merchant journeys. The company is now rolling out with online merchants and establishing itself on-premise in Germany. In their work with international insurances their products make the patient experience cashless. He is now also an executive-in-residence with INSEAD, in France.
 

Lorraine Marchand
Lorraine Marchand is a healthcare technology and life sciences business executive, educator and author who specializes in creating new markets and fostering innovation. She is currently Executive Managing Director, Enterprise Solutions and Strategic Partnerships, Merative (formerly IBM Watson Health), and previously led R&D Consulting at IQVIA. She has held executive roles in management at Cognizant Technology Solutions, Covance/Labcorp and Bristol Myers Squibb. Marchand is an adjunct professor and advisory board member, Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Management Program, Columbia Business School and teaches entrepreneurship at Yeshiva University and has also taught at Princeton University. She conducts executive education workshops on sales excellence, digital innovation, leadership and the Future of Work for fortune 100 companies and is author of The Innovation Mindset: Eight Essential Steps for Transforming Any Industry, scheduled for publication by Columbia University Press, September 13, 2022. 

Praava’s new members join Praava’s current Global Advisory Council, which includes the following individuals (more information can be found here):

• Guilherme Azevedo, Founder, Alice; Co-Founder, dr.consulta

• Kerry Breen, Partner, SBK Tech Ventures

• Dr. Bea Capistrant, Principal Data Scientist, Altais

• Faisal Choudhury, Principal, Glenfarne Group, LLC

• Dr. Rushika Fernandopoulle, Chief Innovation Officer, One Medical

• Nathan Goldstein, CEO and Co-Founder, Duo Health

• Dr. Fred Hersch, Program Manager, Google A.I. Healthcare

• Dr. Kurt Herzer, Senior Advisor, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services

• Katherine Holland, Executive Director, Perkins School for the Blind

• Marlene Kuhn, Former Director of Special Initiatives, MIT Department of Architecture; Founding Chief Design Officer, Praava Health

• Dr. Ajay Nair, CEO, Swasth Digital Health Foundation

• Prashanth Nandavanam, CEO, Forward Measure

• Deepak Pankaj, Portfolio Manager, Synthesis Capital

• Leah Pedersen, Senior Director, Convergence - Global Blended Finance; Former Chief Innovation Officer, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

• Gabrielle Powell, COO, thymia

• Geoff Price, Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, Oak Street Health

• Saqib Rashid, Managing Director, Inverness Capital Advisors

• Dr. Rana Quraishi, Director of New Ventures, University of Maryland, Baltimore

• Dr. Mohammad Rahman, Professor, Department of Public Health, California State University, Fresno

• Dr. Gita Rao, Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management

• Dr. Stella Safo, Attending Physician and Founder, Just Equity for Health

• Celina Schocken, Principal, Advance Global Health

• Shwetank Verma, Co-Founder and General Partner, Leo.Capital

• Trey Watkins, Executive Vice President, Global Health & Corporate Responsibility, GCI Health

• Kat Wendelstadt, Chief Growth Officer, thymia; Former Chief Growth Officer, Praava Health