Dr Ajay Shah: a rare combination of science and religion

You may call Dr Ajay Shah multifaceted without hesitation – he is a scientist, businessman and a spiritual enthusiast. Science and religion are interwoven in his realm of thoughts.

An Adjunct Professor at Amrita Viswha Vidyapeetham, Dr Shah has been teaching at the Amrita University – SUNY Buffalo MBA-MS dual degree program since 2011. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hindu University of America.

Ajay is the Executive Director, IT Business Partner for I/O Cell Therapy TRC, Early Clinical Development and CP&P at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), one of the largest bio-pharmaceutical companies in the world. At BMS, Dr Shah's group is responsible for partnering with the scientists to provide scientific informatics and IT solutions to facilitate development of new medicines. He has been accountable for large capital projects, including a single multi-year $100M investment.

Before joining BMS, Ajay was the Director of Research Informatics and Research IT at the City of Hope National Medical Center (COH) and Beckman Research Institute, where he also directed the Clinical Research Informatics Core and Translational Research Informatics Core. His team of forty research informatics professionals was responsible for providing solutions for pre-clinical research. He has also worked at Elan Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer and a software company in past

Ajay is the co-founder and CEO of HinduNet Inc, the very first website on Hindu dharma. It was eventually expanded to a family of 20 websites on India and Hinduism. These websites garnered reference in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Times of India and several other prominent publications. HinduNet and its associated software company, GHENSoft, was successful in obtaining early stage venture funding. Ajay's work on religion on the Internet was featured in the book, The Soul of Cyberspace: How New Technology Is Changing Our Spiritual Lives by Jeffrey Zaleski.

Ajay received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from University of Bombay, MA in Chemistry from University of Scranton and PhD in Chemistry from University of Mississippi followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona. Ajay earned an Executive MBA degree from the University of Arizona.

Dr Shah at Manoramaonline Techspectations

Dr Shah is participating in the First Shows Manorama Online Techspectations 2020. Manorama Online, which gave the digital face to Malayali's reading habits, is organizing the third edition of the national digital summit on November 27-28.

The third edition of the digital meet, taking place in the backdrop of the global economic crisis triggered by COVID-19 pandemic, aims to explore new opportunities for returning to the path of growth.

The theme of this edition is "Digital-led 2021: Define the New Normal". Techspectations is also a confluence of leaders of the technology sector, heads of prominent brands, statrtups and industry stalwarts who will share their experiences.

First Shows, the soon to be launched OTT platform, is the title sponsor of the summit. "Amrita Ahead" the Amrita University's online degree programme, is the knowledge partner.

For details, visit Techspectations