Rahul Panicker

Rahul Alex Panicker
Born Mavelikkara, Kerala, India
Nationality Indian
Alma mater B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), and M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University
Occupation President and Co-founder Embrace Innovations
Known for Co-founder at Embrace, and President and Co-founder at Embrace Innovations

Rahul Alex Panicker (born 19 October 1980) is an entrepreneur, best known as President and Co-founder of Embrace Innovations[1] and Embrace, a social enterprise startup that aims to help premature and low-birth-weight babies, through a low-cost infant warmer.[2][3]

Panicker currently serves as the President of Embrace Innovations, a social enterprise that designs and brings to market healthcare technologies for the developing world, starting with an infant warmer. The Embrace infant warmer costs less than 1% of a traditional incubator, and is currently being distributed across clinics in India.[4] He is also a member of the FICCI Health Innovation Task Force in India.[5]

Early life and education

Panicker was born in Mavelikara, Kerala, India.[6] He attended Indian Community School, Kuwait.

Panicker holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), India. He is also an alumnus of the design school at Stanford.[7]

As part of his Ph.D. at Stanford, Panicker worked at the interface of machine learning and optics. His thesis work demonstrated a 10 to 100 fold increase in capacity of multimode optical communication systems. His work combined convex optimization, machine learning, adaptive optics and spatial light modulators.[8] His thesis advisors were Prof. Joseph M Kahn, Prof. Stephen P Boyd, and Prof. Shanhui Fan.

His Erdős number is 3 (Paul Erdős - Persi Diaconis - Stephen Boyd - Rahul Panicker).[9][10]

Career

Before starting Embrace, Panicker worked briefly at Infinera Corporation. While there, he worked in a team led by co-founder, President, and member of the Infinera Board, David F. Welch, Ph.D., in the new products group, working on ultra hi-speed optical telecom systems.

Panicker was chosen as a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year[11] in 2013. In December 2013, Panicker and the other co-founders of Embrace, Jane Chen, Linus Liang and Nag Murty received The Economist Innovation Award for Social and Economic Innovation.[12][13] He was also a Tech Award laureate in 2012,[14] and an Echoing Green fellow.

For his work, Panicker has also been awarded the INDEX: Design to Improve Life award in 2011,[15] International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), 2012,[16] and the Fast Company Innovation By Design Awards, 2012,.[17][18]

Embrace

and

In 2007, while studying at Stanford, Panicker and a few other fellow graduates were part of a class, Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability, at the d.school at Stanford University. They were asked to create a low-cost infant incubator that could be used in developing countries.[19] They designed an infant warmer that worked without electricity, was expected to be low-cost, and was designed for use even by rural mothers in developing countries. After the class, they co-founded Embrace (non-profit), a 501(c)(3) non-profit, in 2008 to bring their project to life.[20] In January 2012, Embrace, moved into a hybrid structure.[21] The non-profit entity, Embrace (non-profit), donates infant warmers to the neediest clinics, and the for-profit social enterprise, Embrace Innovations, sells the warmers[22] to clinics which can afford to pay for them. Embrace, believes that this type of "hybrid" structure allows it to most effectively achieve its mission: to supply its infant warmer to every baby in need.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Mischler, Michèle. "Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013". Schwab Foundation. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  2. ↑ Dooley, Sean (Dec 17, 2010). "Embrace Infant Warmer Could Save Thousands".
  3. ↑ Ahmad, Samreen (April 9, 2012). "Spreading life-saving warmth". Tehelka.
  4. ↑ Deepa, Balakrishnan (September 12, 2012). "Portable incubators in 4 states a new lease of life". CNN-IBN.
  5. ↑ IANS. "National innovation council to build an ecosystem for healthcare products and services". health.india.com. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  6. ↑ Sirnate, Vasundhara (3 October 2009). "Embrace of Life". Open Magazine.
  7. ↑ Bagchi, Shrabonti (September 19, 2011). "SAVING LITTLE LIVES". The Times of India.
  8. ↑ Panicker, Rahul (2007). Compensation of Modal Dispersion in Multimode Fiber Systems Using Adaptive Optics Via Convex Optimization. Stanford University: Stanford University. p. 76. ISBN 0549355774.
  9. ↑ Panicker, Rahul; Joseph M Kahn; Stephen P Boyd (15 May 2008). "Compensation of Multimode Fibre Dispersion Using Adaptive Optics Via Convex Optimization". Journal of Lightwave Technology 26 (10): 1295 to 1303. doi:10.1109/jlt.2008.917324.
  10. ↑ Boyd, Stephen; Persi Diaconis (2004). "Fastest Mixing Markov Chain on a Graph". Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics 46 (4): 667 to 689. doi:10.1137/s0036144503423264.
  11. ↑ Mischler, Michèle. "Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013". Schwab Foundation. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  12. ↑ Quarterly, Technology (November 30, 2013). "Innovation awards And the winners are…". The Economist.
  13. ↑ "Bangalore-based startup founders win Economist Innovation Award". The Economic Times. November 6, 2013.
  14. ↑ Thorpe, Devin (September 30, 2012). "28 Award Winners Highlight Innovation in Social Entrepreneurship". Forbes.
  15. ↑ The Daily News Staff. "Embrace, Stanford enterprise, wins Index Award". The Stanford Daily. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
  16. ↑ OZLER, Levent. "Best in Show of the 2012 International Design Excellence Awards". Dexigner. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  17. ↑ Wilson, Mark. "The 11 Winners Of Our 2012 Innovation By Design Awards". Fast Company. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
  18. ↑ Kuang, Cliff. "Why Good Design Is Finally A Bottom Line Investment". Fast Company. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Embrace: A low cost infant warmer". Retrieved April 18, 2012. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  20. ↑ Platoni, Kara (January–February 2012). "Baby, It's Cold Outside". Stanford Alumni.
  21. ↑ Abudheen, Sainul K. "Infant warmers maker Embrace raises funding from Khosla Impact, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, others". VCCircle. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  22. ↑ Assainar, Raina (June 2013). "Embracing new born lives in a warm cuddle, Embrace Innovations". YourStory.
  23. ↑ Chen, Jane (February 1, 2013). "Should Your Business Be Nonprofit or For-Profit?". Harvard Business Review.