Covid-19 vaccine makers named Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII); and Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech Chairman Krishna Ella and his co-founder wife Suchitra Ella will be awarded Padma Bhushan as announced by the Centre on Tuesday evening. The SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, is known for manufacturing the Covishield vaccine to fight coronavirus infection. Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the country, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri.
Both pharmaceutical firms – SII and Bharat Biotech – have led the country towards becoming self-sufficient in Covid-19 vaccines production and making them available at the lowest possible price in the world. On several occasions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauded these vaccine makers making India proud worldwide and making the vaccination drive successful.
Let’s have a peek at the outstanding life and career of these Padma Bhushan awardees:
Cyrus Poonawalla
Born in 1941 in a Parsi family, Cyrus S Poonawalla is a billionaire businessman and the Chairman and Managing Director of the Cyrus Poonawalla Group, which includes the Serum Institute of India. He was married to Villoo Poonawalla, who died in 2010. They have a son, Adar Poonawalla, who currently works as the CEO of SII.
In 2021, Cyrus was ranked number 5 on Fortunes’ India rich list with a net worth of $19 billion. He founded the SII in 1966 and built it to the largest vaccine manufacturer (by doses) in the world. Serum produces over 1.5 billion doses annually of a range of vaccines, including for measles, polio and flu, according to Wikipedia.
He has been already awarded Padma Shri for his contribution to the field of medicine in 2005. In November 2007, he got the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the category of Healthcare and Life Sciences.
In February 2015, he received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for India and in June 2018, he was conferred with honorary doctorate by the University of Massachusetts Medical School in June 2018.
In June 2019, he bagged honorary doctorate by the University of Oxford and Lokmanya Tilak National Award in August 2021.
Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella
Dr Krishna Ella was born in 1969 into a Telegu speaking agriculturist family in Tamil Nadu. He started off his career by joining the pharmaceutical and life sciences company Bayer, as part of its agricultural division. Later, he left to the United States to pursue his education. He returned to India and set up a small lab in Hyderabad in 1996 and named it Bharat Biotech. At present, he is the Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech International Limited.
A research scientist in Molecular Biology, Dr. Ella strongly believes that innovative technology in vaccine development is essential to solve public healthcare problems caused by infectious diseases. Under Dr. Ella’s leadership, Bharat Biotech has grown to become a global leader in innovative vaccine. A serial entrepreneur with a passion for innovative ideas, Dr. Ella has also ventured into veterinary vaccines, food processing, and developing biotechnology infrastructure in the country, according to Bharat Biotech’s official website.
He has been awarded with many awards including the ET Now Special Recognition for Healthcare Industry Award, J R D Tata—Best Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Marico Innovation Award and University of Southern California—Asia-Pacific Leadership Award.
Ella’s company is the first to manufacture a preservative-free vaccine (Revac-B mcf Hepatitis B Vaccine), and launch India’s first cell-cultured Swine Flu vaccine. They also manufacture the world’s cheapest Hepatitis vaccines. Bharat Biotech is the first in the world to find a vaccine for the Zika virus, according to Wikipedia.
On the other hand, his wife and the Joint Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, Suchitra Ella is a strong pillar of support and guidance at Bharat. She oversees a wide range of operations in the company and has a vast experience in experience in customer operations, finance, marketing and business development related work.
Several awards have been conferred on Suchitra Ella including the South Indian Business Achievers Award 2016, Zee TV Best Women Entrepreneur Award, SAARC Women Entrepreneur Award etc.
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