Summit Spotlight Speaker

Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD

Anantha Shekhar, MD, PhD
Senior Vice Chancellor for the Health Sciences
John and Gertrude Petersen Dean, School of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh

Anantha Shekhar is an internationally recognized educator, researcher and entrepreneur who has made significant contributions to medicine and life sciences. At Pitt, Shekhar leads all six health sciences schools — Dental Medicine, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Public Health — renowned for their research and educational excellence for more than a century. He’s also responsible for supporting Pitt’s perennial position as a top 10 awardee of National Institutes of Health research grants and top 10 national ranking in Life Sciences research and development expenditures.

Shekhar is also a key leader in the development of Pitt BioForge, due to open in 2027, to drive breakthroughs in cell and gene therapy manufacturing, and other major initiatives aimed at translating the many discoveries from Pitt’s vast biomedical research enterprise into products and solutions for patients worldwide. Moreover, he works closely with UPMC, a $24 billion world-renowned health care provider and insurer, to ensure that health care delivery, biomedical research and education — already among the nation’s elite — continue to flourish.

Shekhar’s areas of scientific expertise include basic and clinical research on the effects of stress, stress-induced psychiatric disorders and clinical psychopharmacology. His laboratory has identified novel targets for neuropsychiatric disorder treatments, including seminal work in the development of the new schizophrenia drug, Cobenfy™, approved by the FDA in September 2024. Shekhar is also the founder of multiple biotech companies developing novel therapies.

Born in India, Shekhar earned his medical degree at St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, and PhD in neuroscience at Indiana University (IU). He served IU’s School of Medicine, the nation’s largest medical school, for more than 35 years in roles of increasing responsibility, including executive associate dean for research affairs, associate vice president for university clinical affairs and research, and executive vice president of academic affairs for clinical research at IU Health. For his exceptional leadership, Shekhar was awarded the IU President’s Medal for Excellence, the university’s highest honor. Shekhar also founded the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, a partnership among Indiana’s top research universities and community, health care, governmental, and corporate stakeholders to solve the state’s most pressing health challenges. In 2019, he was awarded Indiana’s highest honor, the Sagamore of the Wabash Award, for his transformational contributions to advancing the state’s life sciences corridor.