About

I'm an experienced professional bringing a unique combination of business management and scientific expertise along with strategic leadership experience and people skills with a global outlook. I have over 15 years of international corporate experience in Pharma and Healthcare sectors in various leadership roles in addition to managing high value innovation projects. 

My research in business strategy is centred around managing various innovation driven partnerships and resides in the interface of strategy and international business. In my technical research, my focus has been on “Green Chemistry” and “Drug Discovery”.

My teaching is practice-based, international student-centred and covers areas like Strategy, International Business, Innovation Management, Project Management and Leadership and Change Management. In my academic roles, I have helped SME leaders in devising and implementing strategies aimed at business recovery and growth through business reliance. As a Programme Lead in Help To Grow Management Programme for the University of Derby, I actively engaged with business leaders to help them in devising business strategy for mitigating risks arising out of various uncertainties. 

Teaching responsibilities

I lead and teach undergraduate, postgraduate executive modules in Strategy, and International Business, alongside supervising postgraduate dissertations.

Professional interests

I assist business leaders with:

• Business strategy – going back to basics
• Business resilience and future–proofing business
• Sustainability oriented business strategy
• Internationalisation strategy 

Research interests

In my academic research I study the strategic dimensions around managing knowledge-intensive partnerships – what makes a partnership to succeed and what are the contributing factors towards partnership longevity.

Qualifications

• PhD, Strategy and International Business, Essex Business School, University of Essex, UK, 2023
• PhD, Bioorganic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 2000

Recent conferences

• Das Sarma, K, Demirbag, M. and Sengupta A. ‘Managing R&D outsourcing partnerships: an empirical analysis of the mediating role of reintegration in the relationship of governance and performance outcome in Drug Discovery outsourcing’ – AIB 2021, June 28 – July 2
• Das Sarma, K, ‘Strategic Planning for Business Resilience and Longevity’ – East Midlands Chamber of Commerce Business Resilience Conference, Feb. 12, 2021
• Das Sarma, K. and Demirbag, M., ‘Alliance management in outsourcing partnerships: an integrative research framework’ – AIB 2020, July 3–6, 2020
• Panellist, The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies WebTalks: Conquering the Monster: Drug Hunt for COVID-19 – a panel discussion, May 02, 2020
• The power of goal setting (online), The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India, Jan. 17, 2020, Sep. 01, 2020 and Aug 17, 2021

Experience in industry

I have over 15 years corporate experience mainly in Pharma and Healthcare sectors and have assumed various technical and leadership roles. As a senior leadership team member, I was actively engaged in devising and implementing organisational strategy sometimes under extreme uncertainty leading to business continuity and eventual growth. I have implemented various change management initiatives. Additionally, I have expertise in project and portfolio management, marketing and business development and managing multinational and multicultural teams.

International experience

I worked in the USA, Germany, and India in addition to working in the UK. Moreover, I have led or was part of many multinational teams and partnerships.

Additional interests and activities

I am an avid photographer and enjoy capturing the bounty of nature through my lens.

Instagram: @koushik_photography

In the media

Blogs

• SME Resilience Through Decoding Business Strategy
• Isolation: A Bane or Boon?   

Press

• Interview published in, Managing Knowledge, Midlands Business Insider (May 2021 issue)
• Business Matters: SME resilience through decoding business strategy (May 24, 2021)
• Panellist, Power of Leadership, Insider Online Forum – Nov 26, 2020
• Isolation concerns raised by business academic (Nov 25, 2020)

Recent publications

Peer–reviewed conference papers (management)

• Das Sarma, K, Demirbag, M. and Sengupta A. 2021. Managing R&D outsourcing partnerships: an empirical analysis of the mediating role of reintegration in the relationship of governance and performance outcome in Drug Discovery outsourcing, AIB 2021, 28 June – 2 July 
• Das Sarma, K and Demirbag, M., 2020. Alliance management in outsourcing partnerships: an integrative research framework, AIB 2020, Miami, FL, USA, 3–6 July 

Selected scientific publications

• Rana, D., Kalamuddin, M., Sundriyal, S., Jaiswal, V., Sharma, G., Das Sarma, K., Sijwali, P., Mohmmed, A., Malhotra, P. and Mahindroo, N., 2020. Identification of antimalarial leads with dual falcipain-2 and falcipain-3 inhibitory activity. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 28(1), p.115155.
• Gopinath, V., Rao, M., Shivahare, R., Vishwakarma, P., Ghose, S., Pradhan, A., Hindupur, R., Das Sarma, K., Gupta, S., Puri, S., Launay, D. and Martin, D., 2014. Design, synthesis, ADME characterization and antileishmanial evaluation of novel substituted quinoline analogs. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 24(9), pp.2046-2052.
• Biswas, K., Gholap, R., Srinivas, P., Kanyal, S. and Das Sarma, K.*, 2014. β-Substituted γ-butyrolactams from mucochloric acid: synthesis of (±)-baclofen and other γ-aminobutyric acids and useful building blocks. RSC Adv., 4(5), pp.2538-2545.
• Biswas, K., Kumar, A. and Das Sarma, K.*, 2013. One-Pot High-Throughput Synthesis of a 160-Membered Library of Methyl 3,5-Diaryl-isoxazoline-5-carboxylate Pharmacophores by a 2·2·2-Component Reaction. ACS Combinatorial Science, 15(5), pp.255-260.
• Zhang, J., Das Sarma, K. and Curran, T., 2013. Recent Progress in the Chemistry of Mucohalic Acids: Versatile Building Blocks in Organic Synthesis. Synlett, 24(05), pp.550-569.
• Thur, Y., Bhalerao, A., Munshi, Z., Pansare, N., Mann, K., Hanauer, G., Kley, H., Nappe, S., Weiss-Haljiti, C., Ostermann, C., Zitt, C., Schaefer, M., Mondal, D., Ali Siddiki, A., Armugam, V., Gudaghe, V., Gupta, M., Rayudu, P., Dautzenberg, F. and Das Sarma, K.*, 2012. Structure–activity relationships of 2-arylamido-5,7-dihydro-4H-thieno[2,3-c]pyran-3-carboxamide derivatives as cannabinoid receptor agonists and their analgesic action. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 22(24), pp.7314-7321.
• Khan, M., Zhang, J., Das Sarma, K.* and Ganguly, B., 2012. Origins of reversing diastereoselectivity of α,β-dichloro-γ-butenolides and γ-butyrolactams in direct vinylogous aldol addition: a computational study. RSC Advances, 2(22), p.8460.
• Das Sarma, K., Zhang, J. and Curran, T., 2007. Novel Synthons from Mucochloric Acid:  The First Use of α,β-Dichloro-γ-butenolides and γ-Butyrolactams for Direct Vinylogous Aldol Addition. The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 72(9), pp.3311-3318. 
• Das Sarma, K., Zhang, J., Huang, Y. and Davidson, J., 2006. Amino Acid Esters and Amides for Reductive Amination of Mucochloric Acid: Synthesis of Novel γ-Lactams, Short Peptides and Antiseizure Agent Levetiracetam (Keppra®). European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2006(16), pp.3730-3737.
• Pirrung, M. and Das Sarma, K., 2004. Multicomponent Reactions Are Accelerated in Water. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 126(2), pp.444-445.