M Purushoutham
Dr. Madhura Vipra
Co-Founder and CEO of Medvolt
“There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” – VICTOR HUGO
The world of medicine is a fascinating field that has created miracles helping mankind ride over dreaded epidemics like Bubonic Plague, Cholera, Spanish Flu and the recent Covid-19 as well as diseases like Cancer and Diabetes. The current emphasis on “Precision medicine” which aims at targeted treatments for precise positive outcomes has positioned this field for revolutionary changes, fuelled by the Human Genome Project which resulted in the sequencing of the entire human genetic makeup and has now started to create tangible business impact through the increasing amounts of data available. There exist humongous quantities of data in healthcare-mostly unstructured and in silos. The challenge now is to convert this data into actionable insights for newer drugs, treatments and diagnostics improving significantly on the traditional drug discovery process which is exorbitantly expensive, both from a time and capital perspective. This new approach provides the medical fraternity with the power to not only segregate patients down to individuals, with specific biomarkers that can be targeted to obviate the occurrence of diseases like cancer, but also the wherewithal to treat it right down to just the affected cells while leaving the others intact in a highly targeted manner.
It’s precisely this power of data that attracts Dr Madhura Vipra, Co-Founder and CEO of MEDVOLT, in her pursuit of utilising biomedical data for realizing the objective of precision medicine at scale.
From a young age, she knew life-sciences and biology of the human body would be her calling. With research and analysis added to her armour, she has been active in the field of LSHC for over 3 decades now. Her qualifications and interests have taken interesting turns with Masters in Microbiology to a PhD in Cancer-cell Biology followed by a DBM and a Diploma in Patent laws. After her PhD, she took a bold decision of getting directly into complex product development as the Chief Domain Expert for a Cancer detection Imaging software in a MNC. She was then a Chief Product Owner at world’s top healthcare company for an instrument that detects cancers. As Head of the Genomics at a Bio-IT company she dealt with complex bio-curation projects and further on she was Managing Director of a genomics company. Along the way she built her expertise in IPR and is an expert at Patent Drafting. She herself holds a few international patents.
An interesting milestone in her career came when realising the potential of data in clinical environment for the betterment of humanity, Madhura turned entrepreneur with a boutique consultancy firm named Athena (Goddess of Knowledge in Greek mythology), that catered to the world’s pioneering scientists, institutions and organizations in the field of precision medicine.
While data comes from varied sources including publications, multi-omics databases, clinical trials and real world patient data, Madhura’s forte lies in connecting the dots (and data) to form plausible scientific insights for discovering novel targets, for specific diseases, and drugs that can be altered with de-novo techniques or repurposed, ultimately resulting in precise treatments. Importantly, it’s her ability to stay ahead of the learning curve by a few years that gave her customers the confidence that they are dealing with someone who understands the field not only in the present, but also in the foreseeable future, important when outcomes are realized a few years after the start of the activity.
She attributes her success to her intelligence, knowledge and hard-work. A natural analyst by her own admission, she arrives at conclusions, almost like a detective!
Research in medical science costs millions. It’s a field where data is highly valued – stakeholders part with it only when assured of complete privacy and protection – and when they come calling at Madhura’s door again and again, it goes without saying that she is trusted for her integrity. She has worked with clients that have raised hundreds of millions at unicorn valuations successfully relying on data analysed by her. It gives her immense satisfaction to know that she has contributed to work which in real life, has provided succour to millions of people all over the world suffering from various ailments, who would never know her.
At the cusp of big revolution happening in the field of Life sciences, with her knowledge and expertise, Madhura has now co- founded a Deep-tech start-up MEDVOLT.ai, which aims to play a pivotal role by helping accelerate biomedical and healthcare research using Data and AI technology for better patient outcomes with accurate predictions. Data, she elaborates, is disparate in nature, available by truckloads and demands expert handling. She is set out to effectively use modern technology to convert data into knowledge so that all stakeholders can be incentivized. So Madhura’s work these days increasingly sees her dip her hands in the bucket called AI Technology. With humans in the loop, MEDVOLT is building a novel bio platform that will accelerate biomedical research using state-of-the-art AI technology which can organize data, generate knowledge and derive insights from the huge data deluge and help researchers speed up their efforts for drug discovery, pharmacogenomics, biomarker identification etc. in therapeutics and diagnostics.
To this end, MEDVOLT has its plans clearly cut out. The team includes PhDs in Life Sciences, Bioinformatics and Biochemistry besides Data scientists, ML and AI engineers, Software Developers and Product Development folks. The right market for them is North America, Europe, Japan and eventually India as it warms up to adoption of novel technologies.
This brings us to a question. What does Dr Madhura Vipra, the techno-preneur attribute her success to?
Looking back, she thanks her mentor who spotted the potential in her and her supportive mother and a husband who extended a helping hand throughout to let her pursue her difficult career with all zeal and fervour.
A quote by India’s illustrious former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam stays close to her heart. “Dream is not what you see in sleep, dream is something which does not let you sleep”.
Madhura also has a deep sense of giving back to the community and has been associated with Rotary International over last 20 years.
And what is Dr Madhura Vipra’s Business Mantra include?
- Honesty, Sincerity and Integrity
- Constant pursuit of knowledge
- Respecting time
She says, she is in perfect stage of Ikigai, which in Japanese means a space which gives you worth and comfort, and from where you perform your greatest.
Madhura has had her share of accomplishments and awards which include :
1) Women entrepreneur awards by various organizations
2) Several patents, articles and publications
3) Speaker at conferences
4) Star performer awards
5) Excellent PhD thesis endorsement
6) Recipient of many scholarships throughout including Rotary International scholarship
www.medvolt.ai
madhura@medvolt.ai
+91 9822065743
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