Our leadership
Praveen Akkinepally Country President & Managing Director
Praveen is an accomplished leader with over 20 years’ experience in multiple countries across Oncology and Biopharmaceuticals. After building his career in the US, he returned to India two years ago to lead AstraZeneca’s Oncology Business Unit, driving strong growth through a patient-centric and collaborative culture. An MBA from the University of Michigan and an MPH from Johns Hopkins complement his global perspective and proven ability to deliver results. Praveen is poised to accelerate AstraZeneca India’s journey of innovation and transformative growth.
Bhavana Agrawal Chief Financial Officer and Director
Bhavana Agrawal is Chief Financial Officer and Director for AstraZeneca India. With over two decades of finance experience across geographies & businesses, Bhavana has recently joined AstraZeneca India.
Amarpreet Kaur Ahuja Country HR Director
Amarpreet heads Human Resources Function for the Commercial organization, Global Innovation Technology Center, R&D group, and the Manufacturing site at AstraZeneca India.
Dr. Ajaykumar Sharma Director- Corporate & State Affairs
Dr. Ajay ably represent AstraZeneca position on key business matters across MoHFW, Min of Chemicals & Fertilisers, Min of Commerce, Min of Finance, Min of External Affairs, State Governments, Drug Controller offices, Other Statutory and Non-Statutory bodies.
Amita Bhave Director - Regulatory Affairs
Amita, Director of Regulatory Affairs has over 28 years of invaluable experience in the Indian Pharma Industry across multiple domains such as Regulatory Affairs, Medical Support, and Drug Development.
Harish Dash Senior Director, Commercial IT & Digital
Harish Dash is the Head of Commercial IT & Digital for India, where he leads enterprise-wide digital transformation initiatives by leveraging automation, artificial intelligence, and data-driven decision-making processes.
Sandeep Arora Director, Medical Affairs
Dr. Sandeep Arora serves as the Director of Medical Affairs at AstraZeneca India, bringing over 20 years of comprehensive experience in the pharmaceuticals, vaccines, medical devices, and wider healthcare industry.
Ayush Kumar Agarwal Director- BioPharmaceutical Business Unit
Ayush heads the Biopharmaceutical Business Unit encompassing the Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism and Respiratory & Immunology business of the organisation.In his last stint as the Director for Commercial Excellence, Ayush led multiple high performing teams across Strategy, Business Development, Retail, and L&D, beyond the SFE & Public Channel (BBU) teams.
Vinay Sharma Business Unit Head- Rare Disease
With a strong track record of creating unique strategies propelling reach and growth, Vinay is responsible for building a roadmap for Rare Disease Business Unit in India, converting opportunities into impact, in tandem with country’s policies and a strong patient advocacy ecosystem.
Shikha Mirchandani Chatrath Director – Commercial Excellence, BD & Strategy
Shikha is responsible for building and leading a high-performing Commercial Excellence, BD & Strategy function to support AstraZeneca India for multiple potential future launches across all Therapy Areas.
Venkat Natarajan Market Access Lead
In the pivotal role of Market Access Lead, Venkat Natarajan drives the development and execution of access and pricing strategies, showcasing a profound commitment to advancing healthcare accessibility and affordability in the Indian pharmaceutical landscape.
C. N. Ramesh Varadarajan Director- Area Compliance, Asia
Ramesh joined AstraZeneca India in 1993 and has been with the company for three decades now. Being a global pharmaceutical company invested in patient benefit, we need strong yet uniform mechanisms to work with multiple group of stakeholders (internal and external) with similar values to the company while delivering life-saving medicines for patients round the world.
Pankaj Jain Head Legal
Pankaj Jain is the Legal Head for AstraZeneca India He comes with over 23 years of experience and advises the leadership team on various legal and commercial aspects of AZPIL and is as solid business partner, who actively participates, assess legal risks and guides the leadership team.
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Sandeep A.V. Director- Site Management & Monitoring
Sandeep is a Director in the SM&M function accountable for delivery of AstraZeneca’s internally delivered studies, specifically the Breast & Lung Cancer trials.
B S Srikanth Site Lead for India Operations
Srikanth is the Site Lead for India Operations at AstraZeneca India in Bangalore. Graduated with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Bangalore University, and over 27 years of experience, he possesses extensive knowledge and expertise in leading manufacturing & operations, areas of procurement, planning, product outsourcing, distribution, and ERP implementation.
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Tapankumar Shah Country Director, Site Management & Monitoring
Tapankumar is the Country Director of SM&M India and the Cluster Head of Asia Area overseeing SM&M teams in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines.