United States, January 2026 — Novartis has appointed Gayathri Raghupathy as Executive Director, Functional AI and Process Excellence, US Medical. In this role, she will work with cross-functional teams to harness AI, reimagine critical processes, and scale intelligent solutions that enable stronger focus on what matters most—science and patients.
Sharing her perspective on the transition, Gayathri Raghupathy noted that she is excited to collaborate with teams across the organization to scale AI-led solutions and expressed gratitude for her journey “from the lab to medical communications to building AI products in a startup environment,” adding that she is looking forward to learning and growing at an organization known for its commitment to innovation and patients.
Before joining Novartis, Gayathri spent over six years at Kognitic, Inc., a startup environment where she helped shape the scientific and business strategy behind AI-enabled intelligence solutions. Most recently, she served as Chief Strategy Officer, after earlier leading scientific strategy as Vice President, Scientific Strategy and previously as Lead, Scientific & Business Strategy, where her work included driving product innovation, building competitive insights, strengthening data quality processes, and partnering closely with marketing and medical affairs leaders in pharma to deliver end-to-end outcomes.
Earlier, she worked at BGB Group as a Medical Writer, supporting scientific content development across congress planning, promotional strategy, competitive intelligence, and digital education initiatives, while also creating physician-facing materials and training assets for medical and commercial teams.
Her early foundation includes co-founding CUNY Biotech and GRO-Biotech, community-led initiatives connecting life-science researchers with the biopharma ecosystem, alongside deep research experience earned through her doctoral work at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she pursued a PhD in Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, focusing on gene regulation research relevant to advances in T-cell gene therapy.
Novartis is an innovative medicines company focused on reimagining medicine to improve and extend people’s lives, supporting patients, healthcare professionals and societies in the face of serious disease. The company’s medicines reach more than 250 million people worldwide.
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