Board of Directors

Dr. Sampa Pal
Founder & Chairman
Scientific Program Officer at PATH. Sampa Lives life by the spirit of Live to Serve. Sampa loves her two cats: Star, and Snow.

Nancy Muller
Independent consultant, previously senior program officer with PATH
Currently works as a senior global health consultant focusing on health care waste management and menstrual health. Nancy worked as a public health expert with PATH and country partners for over 30 years to evaluate and introduce innovative immunization and maternal and child health technologies and systems programs. During this time, Nanacy led PATH's menstrual health team for 12 years aimed at improving women and girls health and well-being by increasing awareness, access, and use of quality, appropriate products and systems at scale. Nancy also led PATH's health care waste management efforts, working closely with country partners to assess needs, identify best practical environmental options to manage immunization waste, assist with country planning, guidelines, and training. Nancy has a masters degree in international management from the School for International Training in Vermont.

Rajesh Soy
Microsoft
I'm a single parent to two amazing kids, Zoya and Zahaan, who are my world. They inspire me to keep healthy and fit. I'm also a computer scientist by trade, and I enjoy solving complex problems with code. But my true passion is helping at-risk youth realize their potential and achieve their dreams. I believe that everyone deserves a chance to succeed and make a difference in the world. That's why I live to serve with Amrita-Seattle.
I can play Hindustani classical ragas on a 24-string raga guitar!

Pallabi Deb
Fred Hutch Cancer Center
Pallabi Deb currently holds the position of Senior Program Manager at the HIV Vaccine Trials Network and the COVID-19 Prevention Trials Network within the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at Fred Hutch in Seattle, Washington. Her multi-disciplinary background encompasses vaccine research and development, implementation science, digital health technologies, and epidemiology. In her role, she spearheads strategy and portfolio management of clinical programs (Clinical Trials), with a focus on developing infectious disease prevention methods through vaccines and other therapeutics. Her collaborations extend to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), pharmaceuticals, and academic institutions. Her areas of therapeutic expertise include HIV/AIDS, SARS-CoV-2, and tuberculosis (TB).
Also, she is pursuing a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree, specializing in leadership and practice, at the University of Illinois, Chicago, School of Public Health.

Ajendra Taneja
Quiet Platforms Amazon
My expertise focuses on strategic planning, building and extending large software systems and infrastructure, team management, technical architecture, design, product management, program management and project management for high availability, high volume transnational systems, web sites and online and mobile applications. My experiences range from product management/engineering leadership to leading large (100+) cross functional teams. These experiences span industry verticals – e-commerce, retail, transportation, last mile logistics, Telecom, Hospitality and multiple technology domains -embedded, enterprise systems and internet-scale services. Understand the nuances of remote and offshore product development.

Eric Ferguson
Grubhub
Eric Ferguson is Chief Operations Officer at Honk, a leading technology-driven roadside assistance company. With more than 20 years of experience spanning supply chain, logistics, and marketplace operations, Eric is a proven leader in scaling complex, high-volume operational systems.
Prior to Honk, Eric served as Chief Operations Officer at Grubhub, where he held broad operational responsibility across the driver network, delivery operations, customer service, fraud, sales, and account management. He also led two of Grubhub's B2B businesses, Campus and Corporate, and was instrumental in scaling the company's profitable delivery network from the ground up to more than 500,000 deliveries per day.
Before Grubhub, Eric spent over a decade at Amazon, where he held leadership roles within the company's transportation division, gaining deep expertise in building and managing logistics operations at global scale.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Stuart Kahn
University of Washington ; Syntrix Biosystems
In the past at the University of Washington Stuart worked as a pediatric rheumatologist attending to general pediatric patients and pediatric rheumatology patients. At the University of Washington he also directed a basic research lab investigating chronic inflammation caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasite that causes Chagas disease. These efforts were continued at the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle where Stuart also supported clinical development of vaccines and diagnostic tests for neglected diseases, e.g., Leishmaniasis. Stuart then joined a small biotechnology company in the Seattle area, Syntrix Biosystems, where he directed clinical trial programs in inflammation, pain, melanoma, and myelodysplastic syndrome. Currently Stuart lives in Seattle, continues to consult on clinical development programs, and enjoys the recreation and entertainment that is offered by Seattle and the wilds of the Pacific Northwest.

Chief Executive Officer
Sharmila Pal
Sharmila Pal is the Chief Executive Officer of Amrita-Seattle. Based in between our Seattle office and program sites in utmost rural India, Sharmila brings to Amrita-Seattle ten years of lived experience in all aspects of our grassroots service and social impact.
A seasoned globe trotter and an international marine research voyageur with 256 days spent at sea, Sharmila previously served as Amrita-Seattle’s Program Officer travelling to utmost rural areas to visit our clients.
Sharmila holds two bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Oceanography from the University of Washington. Followed by master’s in Marine Chemistry from University of South Carolina, and Non-Profit Leadership and Management from University of Pennsylvania.
Heritage Board of Directors

Girish Lakshman
Amazon, Retired

Suparna Banerjee
Fred Hutch Cancer Center

Microsoft

Jay Young Archer
Seattle Pacific University

Subhadra Ghosh
Kaiser Permanente

Balaji Subramaniam

Sujit Pal
Amrita-Seattle Co-Founder
UW Medical Center

Chanchal K. Banerjee
Microsoft

Ashim Bhaumik
ICERTIS

Moumita Bhattacharya
Expedia ; Belden Inc
