How philanthropy is empowering India's mental health sector
Mental health in India has long been overshadowed by other healthcare issues. But philanthropy is emerging as a crucial player in addressing this crisis.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is a pioneering biotech entrepreneur, a healthcare visionary, a global influencer and a passionate philanthropist. She is a pioneer of India’s biotech industry and founder of Biocon, which is an innovation-led global biopharmaceutical company. As a well recognized woman in science, she is committed to equitable access to healthcare through affordable innovation, as she pursues a path of making a difference to billions of lives globally. She is the proud recipient of two of India's highest civilian honours, the Padma Shri (1989) and Padma Bhushan (2005). She was conferred with the prestigious Quality Ratna Award for the year 2020 by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for her visionary leadership and Lifetime Achievement Award by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for Outstanding Achievement in Healthcare in 2019.
She has been conferred with the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year™ 2020 Award, which is a testimony to her entrepreneurial journey of over four decades. She has many other international accolades to her credit including the Order of Australia, Australia’s Highest Civilian Honour in 2020, the highest French distinction - Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2016 and Othmer Gold Award, US in 2014.
She is Non-Executive Chairperson of Syngene International, she also serves on the board of Pure-Tech Health, USA, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, USA, Narayana Health and Trent Limited in India apart from holding key positions in various industry, educational, government and professional bodies globally.More importantly, Kiran is the first woman business leader and second person from India to sign the Giving Pledge an initiative of the Gates Foundation, committing to give the majority of her wealth to philanthropic causes.
Mental health in India has long been overshadowed by other healthcare issues. But philanthropy is emerging as a crucial player in addressing this crisis.