Description: Join the Skandalaris Center for a conversation with WashU chemistry alumnus, former BARDA leader, and healthcare innovation executive, Sandeep Patel. Through the lens of wearable health technologies, Sandeep will explore how chemical discoveries, engineering advances, and entrepreneurial vision come together to transform scientific breakthroughs into solutions with real-world impact & how cross-disciplinary collaboration can give rise to next-generation sensing and diagnostic platforms.

Sandeep Patel, PhD, is the CEO and co-founder of Catalyze, a company focused on developing AI-powered infrastructure to accelerate scientific research funding and execution. He previously served as the inaugural Director of the Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures (DRIVe) at BARDA within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In this role, he built and led a team that managed over $1 billion in high-risk, high-reward funding during the COVID-19 response.

Before his tenure at BARDA, Sandeep was instrumental in the Immediate Office of the HHS Secretary, where he founded and led KidneyX, a public-private partnership designed to stimulate the development of breakthrough therapies for kidney disease. He also championed the Presidential Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative, aimed at reforming the nation’s organ transplant system, reducing the number of patients on dialysis, and enhancing efforts to prevent kidney failure.

Additionally, he led HHS’s initiative to apply novel methods, such as incentive prizes and crowdsourcing, to address complex health challenges across various HHS agencies. Sandeep has received the President’s Medal from the American Society of Nephrology and a Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award. Prior to these roles, he worked as a scientific analyst for Thomson Reuters, a scientist for an SBIR-backed startup, and a Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences.

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