Villoo Patell
Dr. Villoo Morawala-Patell is Founder, Chairperson and Managing Director of Avesthagen Limited — recognized as India’s leading systems biology company focused on the convergence of food, pharmaceuticals and population genetics leading to preventive personalised healthcare with specific emphasis on biopharmaceuticals, bionutritionals, bioagriculture and science and innovation. Dr. Patell started her professional career at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics at Hyderabad in 1978. In 1989, Dr. Patell embarked on a PhD program in plant molecular biology at University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France followed by a post-doctoral program at the University of Gent, Belgium, where the technology of genetic engineering of plants was first developed. Upon her return to India, she established herself as independent scientist and principal investigator working from the National Center for Biological Sciences and subsequently at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore. She founded Avesthagen in April 1998 as a public-private Company to promote a sustainable innovation platform for the Nation, operating out of the labs of the UAS, before moving to the current location in 2000. Dr. Patell has been profiled in leading publications such as Nature Biotechnology and Biospectrum. Her recent awards include Outstanding Women Entrepreneur 2005/2006 from FICCI, and the BioSpectrum Entrepreneur, Award of the Year 2006.