💊 Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan & Physician Leader Srishti Gupta Narasimhan
our LIVE episode with this power duo kicks Season 7
Welcome to South Asian Trailblazers! 👋🏼 I’m Simi Shah, and here, I dive deep into the journeys of trailblazing South Asian leaders. This issue kicks off Season 7. Subscribe to our podcast on Apple, Spotify, or any major podcast platform. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook,YouTube, and, yes, that’s right… TikTok.
📣 Announcing The Trailblazers Agency
At South Asian Trailblazers, we’ve long been dedicated to elevating extraordinary leaders. Our new initiative, The Trailblazers Agency, marks the next step toward fulfilling that mission. We bring the fresh, diverse voices of our trailblazers to main stages around the globe.
If your organization is looking for leaders to speak at your next Summit, Conference, Event (Diwali is fast approaching!), or to represent you in your next Brand Campaign, get in touch. And of course, if you’re a speaker interested in representation, reach out!
Special Live Podcast with power duo 🎙️ Dr. Vas Narasimhan (CEO of Novartis) & Dr. Srishti Gupta Narasimhan (Physician Leader in Health & Education)
In addition to elevating the stories of South Asian leaders, we’re also dedicated to convening them. To kick off Season 7 of South Asian Trailblazers, Dr. Vas Narasimhan (CEO of Novartis) and Dr. Srishti Gupta Narasimhan (Physician Leader in Health and Education) join me all the way from Basel, Switzerland for a LIVE recording at Novartis Headquarters in Cambridge, MA.
Vas and Srishti are two incredibly accomplished individuals...who also happen to be married. In this conversation, I delve into how they first met at Harvard Medical School, Srishti’s two decades at McKinsey and board service in biotech, and Vas’ varied leadership roles at Novartis leading up to the moment he was named CEO of the world-renowned pharmaceutical company, Novartis. It’s an extraordinary journey that encompasses multiple moves across the world — with Srishti and Vas rising in their respective careers, while also supporting each other’s unique aspirations and building a family. For all the reasons you can guess, it’s one of our most special episodes yet.
Excerpts from this special live episode are below. If you're interested in attending future events, follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
About Srishti: Dr. Srishti Gupta Narasimhan is a physician leader who dedicates her time to board service at Idorsia Pharmaceuticals, the Norrsken Foundation, and the BackPack Foundation. Previously, Dr. Gupta spent 2 decades at McKinsey as a Senior Expert in the Global Health Practice. She also supported talent programs as Global Director for McKinsey Alumni & Strategy, Director of Global Programs, and Director of Diversity and Inclusion. She holds a BA, MA, MPP, and MD from Harvard University and an M. Phil from the University of Cambridge.
About Vas: Dr. Vasant Narasimhan is the CEO of Novartis. Since becoming CEO in 2018, Vas has led a transformation to build a fully focused medicines company. He leads 105,000 associates across 140 countries. Since joining Novartis in 2005, Vas has held myriad roles, including Global Head of Development for Novartis Vaccines, Global Head of Drug Development, and Chief Medical Officer. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and Chair of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. He holds a BS from the University of Chicago and an MD/MPP from Harvard University.
This live recording was hosted in partnership with Novartis, Scrumptious Wicks, and Prana Kitchens.
Simi: You’ve been able to coach each other professionally because you have a lot of shared interests. One particular motif in your careers is your shared passion for global health equity. Srishti — you spent almost 20 years at McKinsey, many as a Senior Expert in the Global Health Practice, tackling child mortality, vaccine access, and family planning. Vas — you’ve been at Novartis since 2005, and since becoming CEO in 2018, you’ve led a transformation to build a fully focused medicines company that alleviates society’s greatest disease burdens. Can you speak to this shared passion?
Srishti: For us, global health equity has been about challenging the belief that some lives matter less. As a Board Advisor, it's seeing that companies are committed to making sure that interventions and technologies are available to all populations globally as quickly as possible — instead of saying these are only available in the U.S. or Europe or Japan. In terms of implementation, to Vas’ point around things like small interfering RNA, we, as leaders, have this ability to not necessarily go stepwise the way things often work in the U.S. healthcare system or the European healthcare system. We have this ability to leapfrog by incorporating patient experience — like their ability to be in health centers — and other factors into how we design actual products and have these interventions. So as we take this lens into our work, my work in biotech or Vas’ work in thinking about a large portfolio of products, it's really always about challenging the belief that some matters lives matter less, because that's the only way we'll address issues of equity.
Simi: Both of you have been rising and hustling for the better part of 25 years. But I imagine it hasn't been easy supporting each other through moves across the world career changes, while also building a family and supporting each other's individual aspirations. Can you speak to how you've managed all of this?
Vas: I married my best friend, which helps a lot to actually work through all of these different topics. We have a lot of shared shared values. Our parents and grandparents instilled in us that kids are paramount. So for Sai and Kabir (our two sons), we drop everything. Family is always the top priority. Srishti says, “Family, Novartis, Novartis.” She rightfully calls it out when it becomes “Novartis, Novartis, Family.” Also I think a common belief we share is about the impact we're having on the world. We believe in doing what is right. We believe in not being too material or having an attachment to material things. We still live in that same house that I told you about before. We still eat at that same Anna's Taqueria. There’s no fancy restaurants. The furniture is the same from when we first got married. Staying grounded and having a lot of these shared values have helped us navigate all the ups and downs, twists and turns.
Learn about Vas & Srishti’s shared and individual successes — from Vas’ meteoric rise to CEO and Srishti’s vantage point as a board advisor in biotech — in our full episode with this power duo. Tune in on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or our website!