Rahul Sharma PhD (CSO) & Rob Carpenter PhD, MBA (CEO) - Scienetix

Rahul has co-founder and CSO of Scienetix, a company dedicated to enabling Molecular Diagnosis. Dr. Sharma is a board-certified laboratory director and technical lead for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and PCR-based assay development and clinical testing. He has developed multiple Molecular Diagnosis tests and translated them into clinical testing.

Former to joining the for-profit biotech industry, he has served as Head of the Department of Molecular Biology at the National Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) Program (NHDP) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where he established an NGS facility and a Molecular Pathology Laboratory for providing early diagnosis to leprosy patients from across the country. This clinical lab is the only laboratory in the country of its kind. His research findings are being used by national agencies (DHH, CDC) to issue recommendations in the field of leprosy. Dr. Sharma has authored more than thirty publications and filed 3 patents. His research findings are being used by national agencies (DHH, CDC) to issue recommendations in the field of leprosy. He obtained his Ph.D. from Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) with a research focus on Microbial Genomics.

Rob is a healthcare executive and educator with over 25 years’ experience in developing, managing, and assimilating healthcare companies. He is distinctly skilled in business development and various business growth strategies. He is founder and current CEO of Advanta Genetics, a highly complex clinical and research laboratory accredited by the College of American Pathologists with concentration in infectious disease molecular genomics and Scienetix, a bioscientific company centered around products to optimize molecular genomic workflows.

Rob holds an M.B.A. in healthcare administration and a Ph.D. in human resource development from the University of Texas at Tyler Soules College of Business, where he was honored to be the recipient of the “Graduate of the Decade” award. Presently, he serves as both Graduate Research Faculty and Executive in Residence at the Soules College of Business where he likewise enjoys teaching research and scholarship to Ph.D. students. Although Rob’s principal focus is on the healthcare business sector, in addition to his executive and academic positions, he frequently conducts research in the social and physical sciences with many peer reviewed journal and book chapter publications in each discipline.