IWANA

Our People

Meet our team of seasoned scientific writers, where each member brings a wealth of in-depth knowledge and diverse backgrounds to the table. With extensive experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, we understand the intricacies of translating complex information into compelling narratives. Our qualified professionals hold PhD and MD degrees, along with years of experience, ensuring the highest standards of expertise. Drawing from diverse therapeutic areas, we ensure excellence in every project we undertake. Explore our website to learn more about how our team can support your scientific writing needs.

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Sandeep
Kamat

A visionary in medical communications, driving innovation and growth.

AVP, Medical Affairs

Dr. Vidula Bhole, MD, MHSc

Leading Scientific research in medical
communications
Senior Manager

Sonali Dalwadi, PhD

Driving global scientific excellence at Iwana with precision and compliance.

Founder & Managing Director

Ivan J. D’Souza

Driving Global Impact Through Entrepreneurial Vision and Market Expertise

Director - Business Development

Richelle D’Souza

An astute, result oriented leader, driving sales and business growth at Iwana

Director Projects

Suraj Shelar

Strategic leader, flawless executor, with a decade in global communications

Global Reach

DR. SANDEEP KAMAT

Sandeep is a medical doctor by training and has nearly two decades of experience in providing medical communications services to biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. In addition to providing advisory support to pharmaceutical companies for developing their medical communications strategy, Sandeep has rich experience in building teams and launching new services for the medcomms industry. He has played lead roles in recruitment, training, delivery, and quality functions. Sandeep developed an intensive training program to help medical and life science post-graduates transition from a clinical or laboratory environment into a career in medical communications. He also developed an objective feedback system that helps monitor quality, identify training needs, and guide career progression. In his previous company, Sandeep set up systems and processes and built a high-performing team of 200+ medcomms professionals. He was also involved in winning scientific pitches that resulted in significant business growth for the company.

Sandeep has experience of working on both the client and vendor sides. He was a part of the publications team at a global top 10 pharma major and led various delivery functions at a leading global medcomms agency. He has worked in several therapeutic areas, including ophthalmology, orthopedics, hematology, cardiovascular, respiratory, and oncology.

Sandeep has received the CMPP certification from the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP) and the BELS certification from the Board of Editors in Life Sciences. Sandeep has been actively involved in industry conferences and has been faculty at meetings of the DIA and ISMPP. He has also authored publications related to medical publication ethics and transparency.

DR. VIDULA BHOLE, MD, MHSC

Dr. Vidula Bhole has extensive research and operational expertise in the medical communication space. She has an MD (Preventive and Social Medicine) from Mumbai University, India and a Masters in Health Sciences from the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Canada. She has a strong background in Epidemiology and Biostatistics with expertise in medical writing and statistical analysis using software programs such as SAS and SPSS.

Vidula has more than 14 years of experience in research and medical communications. She has authored several publications in peer-reviewed international journals (eg, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Arthritis; Rheumatism, Rheumatology (Oxford), The American Journal of Medicine, British Journal of Dermatology) which are frequently cited. Her publication list below showcases her original work mainly in the arthritis and psoriasis domains. She has also authored several systematic and narrative reviews. She has also presented her work at various international conferences including oral and poster presentations at The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) annual scientific meetings. As a medical writer, she has been acknowledged in more than 25 peer-reviewed publications (including clinical trials) and several oral/poster presentations across different therapeutic areas.

At IWANA, Dr. Bhole plays the role of Medical Director, and is a lead advisor and reviewer in the development of meta-analysis, statistical projects, review articles, manuscripts, abstracts, posters in various therapeutic areas.

Sonali Dalwadi, PhD

Dr. Sonali Dalwadi, PhD in Pharmacy, ISMPP Certified Medical Publication ProfessionalTM (ISMPP CMPPTM), possesses over 12 years of comprehensive experience in both industrial and academic research sectors, including medical communications/scientific writing. Throughout her illustrious career, she has authored and/or supported numerous international manuscripts encompassing research and review articles, real-world evidence manuscripts, congress abstracts and posters, interactive medical slide decks, pre- and post- ad board deliverables, promotional materials, and booklets. Additionally, she assumes accountability for regulatory documentations targeting global markets.

Thanks to her unwavering dedication to research and writing, she has honed her technical expertise in diverse therapeutic areas, including but not limited to ophthalmology, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, central nervous system disorders, dental and nasal-pulmonary issues, oncology, and pain management. Her skill set further extends to the exploration of areas such as probiotics, prebiotics, and nutraceuticals; and medical devices (such as contact lens, eye drops, intraocular lens, inhalation systems).

In her role as Senior Manager at Iwana, Sonali adeptly engages in various scientific content writing tasks, ensuring strict compliance with relevant guidelines while upholding accuracy and integrity. Her diligence and collaborative spirit shine through as she efficiently coordinates team members, ensuring the timely achievement of targets and delivering valuable outcomes for reporting to superiors.

Ivan J. D’Souza

Over the years, Ivan has built a solid multifunctional foundation in the healthcare industry, working at various leadership positions. He has lent his expertise to strategy, business and product offering expansion, team building, sales, delivery, client servicing, training and development, and recruitment.

With over 17 years of experience in business, Ivan has been a significant contributor to the growth of numerous businesses. He has consulted clients for clinical research solutions in India and has continued to grow such services in major markets like the US, EU, and Japan along with growing business regions such as China, Taiwan, South Korea, and India.

Ivan has built teams in these regions and extensively travelled to manage numerous customer relationships with budgets of millions of dollars. His strengths lie in customizing solutions; one of his greatest achievements was to design a customized business solution in pharmacovigilance with a novel partnering idea that won his company a deal of over $10M.

Beyond Iwana, Ivan maintains an active presence in the industry ecosystem by being a member on numerous forums. He loves supporting and encouraging entrepreneurship. He also serves as a member of a few clinical research ventures’ advisory boards and helps accelerate their journey to commercial success. Despite several work commitments, Ivan loves to carve out time to share a wealth of knowledge with his industry peers and is a guest lecturer at various leading clinical research institutes. Additionally, he is a speaker at industry conferences on clinical research.


Richelle D’Souza

Richelle’s career fabric is woven with threads of varied colors and strength. Naturally a people person, her professional journey commenced as a Human Resource professional in advertising agencies such as Pinstorm, Creativeland Asia and Ogilvy & Mather, where she managed recruitment and related operations among several other things. Upon entering a new phase of life (motherhood), she pursued an inherent interest in business and successfully managed large-scale event management programs. She gathered a wide range of experience during this time and simultaneously completed an Advance Diploma in Business Management and a Post Graduate Diploma in management with marketing as her specialization. Around the same time, she worked as an Associate Sales Manager with Drug Safety Associates and marketed pharmacovigilance and scientific writing services. Owing to wide-scale interactions with clients, she strengthened her expertise in the various aspects of pharmaceutical companies and provided effective consultancy solutions.

Over the years, Richelle has combined her networking, organizational, marketing, and critical thinking skills to emerge as a strong and successful individual with good business sense. Presently, she is Director, Business Development, at Iwana and maintains a laser-like focus on positive business outcomes, timely deliveries, and 100% satisfied clients. She scopes out new business opportunities and creates bespoke services and features to match potential client requirements. Her principal areas of expertise are medico marketing, business learning and development, and online marketing of services.

When Richelle is not making crucial business decisions or parenting, she shares insights with entrepreneurs on tapping business opportunities and ways to drive sales. She also loves traveling to places, enjoys dancing and engaging in social work.

Suraj Shelar

Suraj is a proactive, performance-driven professional with expertise in leadership, strategic business planning, and execution, a team player with a keen understanding of business priorities, committed to managing operations and projects flawlessly. He is a cross-functional communicator with the ability to interact with organizational staff, vendors, and customers alike.

Suraj is a Project Management professional with experience in driving Strategic Planning for long-term organizational goals by identifying, analysing, and monitoring factors that affect growth, cost, and productivity.

Suraj started his professional journey back in 2004 in the customer service industry and has worked with organizations such as Hutchinson Whampoa, JP Morgan, and Chase. Throughout his early years, he honed key skills in customer service, client-vendor relationships, logics, and implementation of business support layouts.

During his decade-long stint with a global communications agency, he donned several hats from a Project Manager to an Account Manager to a Business Analyst. On the external front, he worked closely with clients and managed their projects across different time zones. Internally, he oversaw all aspects of project management, which included identification of apt resources required for a project, assignment of tasks according to skill-set, provision of timelines, and management of finances for client accounts. He also led a team of Product Managers to develop an in-house Project Management system based on Microsoft SharePoint and integrated it with a Tableau instance.