Board of Scientific Advisors
Undurti Das | MD, FAMS, Chief Medical Officer and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. Das has 30 years of clinical and research experience in the fields of Internal Medicine, Diabetology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology and Oncology and over 25 years of experience in lipid sciences. He was a Professor of Medicine for 10 years at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in India where he taught graduates and specialist candidates. He has extensive experience in patient care, management of diverse types of clinical conditions and clinical research and trials. Dr. Das also held positions as a Scientist at EFAMOL Research Institute in Canada, Research Professor of Nutrition and Physiology at Upstate Medical University in New York, and Senior Research Fellow at the Indian Council of Medical Research. His research focuses on essential fatty acids, eicosanoids, cytokines, free radicals, nitric oxide, melatonin and their roles in contributing to various clinical conditions, with a particular interest in angiogenesis and its role in cancer and other conditions.
Dr. Das has published 3 books including “The Molecular Basis of Health and Disease” and over 600 research papers in various journals. He is considered among top 2% of the scientists in lipid science. He is also the recipient of the Shakuntala Amirchand prize of ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) in Experimental Medicine and the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar prize in Medical Sciences. Dr. Das is currently Editor-in-Chief of Lipids in Health and Disease, which is published by BioMed Central, U.K; and Current Nutrition and Food Science by Bentham Publishers; and Reviews Editor of Nutrition published by Elsevier. He received his M.B.B.S. in Medicine (surgery and Obstetrics and Gynecology) from Andhra Medical College, MD in Internal Medicine from Osmania Medical College, FAMS from the National Academy of Medical Sciences in India, and Doctor of Science (DSc) from Mangalore University for his original research in the area of diabetes mellitus, additionally he is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC).
Raffaele De Caterina | MD, PhD, Scientific Advisor
Dr. Caterina is Professor of Cardiology and Director of the Cardiology Division at Pisa University Hospital, Italy. He is also Director of the Laboratory for Thrombosis and Vascular Research, the CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, in Italy and the President of the International Society on Nutrigenetics/Nutrigenomims. He has held various positions in the European Society of Cardiology including Chairman, Cluster for Cardiovascular Pathology, Biology and Science Council and Founding Member and Chairman for the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council. Additionally, he was the Founding Member and Board Member of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids and the Chairman for the Gruppo di Studio Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, the Italian Federation of Cardiology.
His research interests include preventative cardiology, thrombosis, atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation, and the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease. He is the author of over 600 peer reviewed scientific publications and an editor of 12 books. He is a visiting lecturer at Brigham and Womens Hospital-Harvard Medical School and a Fellow for the European Society of Cardiology, Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists, and the Italian Society of Cardiology. He is on the editorial board of the European Heart Journal for Cardiovascular Research. He received his MD degree and Postgraduate education in Cardiology, Pulmonary Medicine, Hematology and Nuclear Medicine from the University of Pisa. He received a Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Medicine, from Scuola Superiore S. Anna and was a Fogarty International Research Fellow at Cornell University Medical College.
Kent L. Erickson | PhD, Scientific Advisor
Dr. Erickson is Emeritus Professor of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy at the School of Medicine at the University of California, Davis and was Chairman of that department from 1989 to 2006. In addition to playing an active role in teaching the medical curriculum, he has also been extensively involved in educating graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in nutrition, immunology and cancer biology for the past 30 years. He has served on many state, national, and international grant review panels including the National Institutes of Health, US Army Medical research program, US Department of Agriculture, American Cancer Society, Wellcome Trust, Italian Ministry for Education and Research and many others. In addition, he has served on the editorial boards of 6 journals including the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Journal of Food Science & Nutrition and as referee for over 30 other publications.
His research was focused on studying the effects of fatty acids on normal as well as pathological functions. Additional projects in his lab examined the interaction of fatty acids with stem cells. Dr. Erickson received his Ph.D. from Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, Oregon and he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Scientist Award in 2008. He has held positions at the Cancer Metastasis and Treatment Laboratory, the National Cancer Institute – Frederick Cancer Research Center, Maryland and the Cellular Immunology Section, and the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases. Recently he was the Underwood Fellow of the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council in the UK, and worked at the Centre for Stem Cell Biology at the University of Sheffield in England.
Wensheng Pan | MD, PhD, Scientific Advisor
Dr. Pan is an internationally recognized expert in the field of Clinical Gastroenterology. He has 20 years of experience with the diagnosis and management of GI tract diseases, with a particular focus on early stage stomach, esophageal and colorectal cancer, hepato-biliary diseases, pancreatic diseases and more. Dr. Pan is an international level researcher who works with renowned gastroenterologists and hepatologists to study these diseases.
He is Vice Director and Professor of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine. He is also the President of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, China. He received his undergraduate degree from the Wenzhou Medical College in China, his Master’s Degree from Dalian Medical University in China and his doctoral degree from Tokyo Medical University in Japan.
Urvashi Bhagat | MBA, PGDip, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors
Ms. Bhagat has had a multifaceted career in health care, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical development. She is a medical visionary devoted to achieving breakthroughs in the use of nutrition to prevent and treat disease. She has made groundbreaking discoveries in lipid metabolism and the role of lipids and other nutrients on the manifestation of infectious and chronic diseases and acute events. She holds over 35 patents worldwide based on her discoveries. Since the foundation of Asha Nutrition Sciences in 2008, Ms. Bhagat has set the strategic direction and focus of the company on bringing these discoveries to consumers in the form of balanced and tailored nutrients, with a specific emphasis on lipids, antioxidants and phytochemicals. Prior to founding Asha Nutrition Sciences, Ms. Bhagat was the Founder and President of Health Care Solutions, a consulting firm that assisted companies with strategy and business development.
Under her leadership, the firm attracted clients such as Stanford University Hospital and School of Medicine, the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center, SangStat Medical Corporation, Chiron Corporation, and Kaiser Permanente. Ms. Bhagat was also the Founder and CEO of Anthera, a pharmaceuticals manufacturing and sourcing research company. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry from Kurukshetra University in India, where she graduated at the top of her class and among the top students in the state-wide university system having a unified exam. She also earned a Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Relations from the Sardar Patel College of Communications and Management in India. She continued her education in the United States, earning an MBA and a spot on the dean’s list from the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business.