Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy stands at the rare intersection of medicine, science, and entrepreneurship.
Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy: The Philosophy That Shapes Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy’s Work
At the core of Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy’s approach is a deeply held conviction: transformational progress in life sciences cannot be rushed. Applied science in therapeutics and diagnostics is inherently complex, expensive, and time-intensive. According to him, building world-changing medical solutions requires far more than capital—it demands vision, experience, discipline, and resilience.
Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy consistently emphasizes that founders and investors must commit to long-term thinking, trust the scientific process, and support highly skilled teams through years of discovery and development. This philosophy, forged through decades of frontline clinical care and laboratory research, now guides his work in venture capital and company creation.
Leadership at Tesaro: From Discovery to Global Impact
Before his transition into venture investing, Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy served as Senior Vice President and Head of Research and Development at Tesaro, where he played a defining role in the company’s extraordinary success. Under his scientific and strategic leadership, Tesaro’s R&D teams contributed to the discovery, clinical development, regulatory approval, and global commercialization of 11 cancer medicines.
Among these groundbreaking therapies are:
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Zejula (niraparib), a PARP1/2 inhibitor that transformed treatment options for ovarian and prostate cancer
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Jemperli (dostarlimab), a PD-1 inhibitor providing new hope for patients with endometrial cancer
Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy was also a key member of Tesaro’s executive leadership team that successfully guided the company through its landmark $5.1 billion acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline in 2019, followed by the seamless integration of scientific and commercial operations.
Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy: Academic Excellence and Clinical Dedication
Long before boardrooms and biotech pipelines, Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy built his reputation as a distinguished academic physician and scientist. He spent two decades practicing medical oncology and hematology at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he specialized in treating patients with breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, and leukemias.
As an Associate Professor of Medicine and a faculty leader across institutions including Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and the Harvard-Ludwig Center, Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy led an NIH-funded basic and translational research program that broke new ground in cancer biology. His work pioneered integrative and computational approaches to uncover molecular mechanisms driving cancer growth, metastasis, drug resistance, and tumor dormancy.
A Pioneer in Computational Cancer Biology
His research has identified critical gene networks and genomic regions involved in cancer progression, particularly in breast and gastrointestinal cancers. By developing global analytical tools to interpret complex biological data, he significantly accelerated the pace at which cancer-driving pathways could be discovered and validated.
This innovative work laid the foundation for precision oncology, enabling scientists to move more efficiently from data to discovery and, ultimately, to therapeutic intervention.
Mentorship and Training the Next Generation
Beyond his scientific output, Dr Sridhar Ramaswamy has left a lasting legacy as an educator and mentor. Over the years, he has trained and guided generations of students, residents, and clinical and research fellows at institutions such as Columbia University, Harvard, and MIT. Many of his trainees have gone on to become leaders in academia, industry, and clinical medicine—amplifying his impact far beyond his own work.
Rigorous Training and Distinguished Honors
After earning his medical degree from Boston University, he served as Chief Resident in Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. He then completed advanced clinical fellowships in Medical Oncology and Hematology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital.
His research training includes elite fellowships in cancer biology, immunology, and computational biology at the National Institutes of Health, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School, and the Whitehead Institute at MIT.
His excellence has been recognized through numerous prestigious awards, including:
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Harvard/NIH Research Fellowship in Molecular Hematology
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AACR/GlaxoSmithKline Scholar Award
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Career Development Award from the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Breast SPORE