Know Us

  • Dr Goutami Banerjee

    Goutami is the Co-Founder and Vice President of Fornia BioSolutions Inc., a California based start-up biotech company. The company focuses on discovering and improving bio-based products for improving everyday life, using their proprietary AI, library design and HTP screening platforms.

    Goutami got her PhD with full scholarship in Genetics from Clark University, Massachusetts, followed by her postdoctoral studies from Great Lakes Bio energy Research Center (supported by the US Department of Energy) under Michigan State University. During her postdoctoral fellowship, she established an automated platform called “GENPLAT” which is recognized as a state-of-the-art tool for evaluating enzyme cocktails in biomass degradation. Soon after completing her postdoctoral research, Goutami joined Codexis Inc., a pioneering company in protein engineering, as a scientist. While in Codexis, she led several successful projects partnering with companies like Shell Oil, Merck & Co, Iogen Corporation to name a few. In 2015, together with a small group of very talented scientists, she started her journey with Fornia. At Fornia, she is focused on developing some of its core technologies and production platforms along with business development.

    Goutami has over 20 years of experience working on strain development and protein chemistry and has more than 10 years’ experience in second gen bio fuel and high-value products generated from lignocellulosic biomass.

    Amongst her other publications, Goutami has 10 “h-index” peer reviewed articles in renowned international journals. Her accolades further include inventorship and co-inventorship in more than 50 granted and filed patents in the USA, Europe and Asia. Goutami continues to be invited as guest speaker to many international conferences and biotech companies.

  • Dr Jayeeta Bagchi

    Jayeeta has always studied and worked in interdisciplinary fields. Her areas of academic interest encompass Gender and Literature, Women’s Studies as well as Women and Art History. She is a Life Member of Indian Association of Women’s Studies, India.

    Jayeeta is a freelance writer and researcher. Her teaching career started as a research fellow at Jadavpur University. She has taught and worked in many institutions of high repute in India, Bangladesh and UK. She has been an Assistant Professor of English at the Adamas University, Kolkata and National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi and Lecturer, School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University. She was also a Guest Lecturer at Basanti Devi College and Bethune College.

    Jayeeta has been an Academic Visiting Scholar, Department of Languages and Cultures of South Asia, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She has received the Charles Wallace Research Grant, London and the UGC Junior Research Fellowship. She was also awarded the scholarship for editing and compiling works of Sukhalata Rao by The School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University.

    Her strength lies in an ability to connect with the young student community. New ideas excite her and she loves to venture into innovative terrains.

  • Dr Rima Mukherji

    Rima’s vision is that of a safe society promoting positive mental health and devoid of stigma. Out of this passion was born Crystal Minds, a mental wellness clinic, emphasising on holistic healing in a multidisciplinary clinic set up.

    With 30 years of experience in the field of Psychiatry, Rima has worked in various corporate hospitals of Kolkata such as CMRI, AMRI Hospital, Westbank Hospital (now part of Narayana Hospital) and Sri Aurobindo Seva Kendra. She is currently working as a Visiting Consultant in Woodlands Hospital, Kolkata and is a volunteer with an NGO, All Bengal Women’s Union, where she interacts with destitute and trafficked women and children. As a Senior Consultant, she is an empanelled Psychiatrist with the American Consulate. She is also collaborating with the West Bengal Commission For Protection of Child Rights in awareness programmes on prevention of abuse.

    She trained in the NHS in the UK and completed her MRCPsych from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, London.

    She has been felicitated by West Bengal Commission For Protection of Child Rights, Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, FICCI, FLO, Techno India University, Bangla World Wide and Brainware University.

  • Kaveri Dutt

    Kaveri is an educator who is passionately involved in child education and education policies and inclusive education. She has also been working in the field of mental health of children in the pandemic, as well as saving and safeguarding the environment.

    She is a Board Member of the Kolkata Psychoanalytical and Therapeutic Centre. A Presidency college and Jadavpur University alumnus, she has a Postgraduate degree in English Literature. In her illustrious career, she has been the Headmistress of Birla High School Junior Section, Principal of Modern High School for Girls, Principal of Loreto Day House Bowbazar and Senior Principal of Calcutta International School. She is also the Director and Coordinator of Loreto Schools, India.

    Kaveri is the Academic Counsellor in Future Hope School Kolkata, an institution for underprivileged children. She has served as a Board Member for the Kolkata Psychoanalytical and Therapeutic Centre.

    Kaveri has been awarded Vidya Bhushan Samman by Lion’s Club International and I-Lead Award for leadership and contribution to education.

  • Dr Moggallan Bharti

    Moggallan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Development Studies, Ambedkar University, New Delhi. His primary training is in Political Science and he specialises in the field of political theory and comparative politics. He is interested in the normative work in the field of Social Change and Development. The intersections of Caste, Class and Gender in Indian politics are the core areas of his research. The study of the conditions that lead to the severe socio-political marginalisation of peoples in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective interests him greatly.

    He did his doctoral studies as well as MPhil from The Centre for Political Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has a number of publications in newspapers and web based journals.

    He has attended an international scholars’ meet at Brown International Advanced Research Institutes, Brown University, Providence – Rhode Island, USA.

    He has presented papers at several international conferences and seminars, such as The Latin American Studies Association Congress, Barcelona (2018).

  • Suchita Saigal

    Suchita is an experienced lawyer specializing in Mergers and Acquisitions, as well as project financing transactions. She has professional experience of over 10 years.

    Suchita has worked at top tier law firms like Clifford Chance LLP, JSA, Trilegal, CLP India Pvt Ltd. Currently, she is the Assistant General Counsel at Cleantech Solar, Mumbai.

    She has graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. She is dual qualified in India and England and Wales. She has reviewed several articles and books including the M C Bhandari Guide to Company Law Procedures: Procedures, Rules, Compliances and Governance under the Companies Act, 2013, 24th edition (2018).

    Some of Suchita’s felicitations include being nominated as a Woman Lawyer (In-house Category) by Asian Legal Business in 2020 and Young Lawyer (In-house Category) by IDEX Legal in 2019.

  • Dr Ritasree Chakraborty

    Ritasree is the lead economist with IHS’s Life Sciences Consulting Practice. She has over 8 years of experience in the areas of workforce modelling, strategic planning, economic burden of disease, healthcare forecasting and policy analysis. She has expertise in advanced econometric techniques, including predictive analysis by linear regression, discrete choice modelling using logit, multinomial logit, panel and time series data analysis, and working with large survey databases.

    Her recent projects include forecasting current and future physician demand/supply estimates for the Association of American Medical Colleges; developing workforce models for Bureau of Health Professionals; generating demand/supply projections for healthcare professionals for US states.

    Ritashree has published in several peer-reviewed journals including Health Affairs, Journal of Women’s Health, Movement Disorders and Urban Economics. She holds a PhD and MA in Economics from Clark University.

  • Dr Jhuma Basak

    Jhuma is the Founder and Chairperson of Mira Centre for Innovation, specialising in mental health, arts and education. She is a Psychoanalyst and member of the International Psychoanalytical Association, London (IPA). She is a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at the Indian Psychoanalytical Society and has a PhD in Psychology from the Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. She has been the Co-Chair of Asia COWAP-IPA (committee on women & psychoanalysis) from 2017 to 2021, and now the Co-Chair of the Allied Centre ING-IPA.

    Jhuma has been the Mentor of the Psychoanalytic Study Group, Dept of Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore. She has been a Visiting Professor and is a member of the Board of Examiners at the Ambedkar University, School of Human Studies, New Delhi. She offers lectures on Psychoanalysis and Psychology in different universities of India, NGOs and other social platforms.

    Her area of interest in psychoanalysis lies in culture, women and gender issues. She has international publications in journals and books translated into different languages like Japanese, Italian, French, German, Spanish and Hungarian. Recently she has coedited the book, ‘Psychoanalytic & Socio-Cultural Perspectives of Women in India’, along with Paula Ellman and Gertraud Schlesinger-Kipp. She has presented papers at various international IPA Congresses over the last 20 years in Nice, Chicago, New Orleans, Mexico, Boston and London.

    She is the President of Talash – Society for Inner Strength, Peace and Equality. She is a Council Member of the WICCI West Bengal Arts Leadership Council.

    She is associated with Woodlands Hospital and Crystal Minds in Kolkata. She is also in private clinical practice.

  • Somdatta Chattopadhyay

    Somdatta is the Coordinator of the Mira Psychoanalytic Study Group. She has completed her Masters in Applied Psychology in 2020 from Rajabazar Science College, University of Calcutta and Bachelors in Psychology from Loreto College in 2018.

    She has done an internship at Antara Psychiatric Center where she gained hands-on experience in Mental Status Examination and Case History Taking of Child and Adult psychiatric patients, psychosocial intervention techniques for chronic and acute psychiatric patients and chemical dependent patients. She has also been an intern at Manovikas Kendra, a special school in Kolkata which involved observation and training in therapeutic intervention techniques for children and adults with special needs. She has completed a certificate academic course on Psychodynamic studies, which focussed on gaining an in-depth understanding of Freudian and Post Freudian theories along with their potential clinical application.

    She has presented a paper at the COWAP Kolkata International Conference on “Women in Romance, Sex and Marriage” in 2019 and participated in several state level and national level seminars and congresses on community mental health and contemporary approaches in psychotherapy as a delegate.

  • Sambeet Roy

    Sambeet has a rich and varied background starting with being a Marketing Executive for banks like HSBC, ANZ Grindlays to a long sojourn in the merchant navy as a navigating officer. His sailing stories on VLCC-s and VLNGC-s remain as a stimulating inspiration and experiential enrichment in life. But all along Sambeet has quietly kept his passion burning through all this – his angst for the arts, in painting, sculpting and music. His schooling days at Patha Bhavan has been the initiator of this salient quality in him.

  • Debasish Sen Sharma

    Debasish Sen Sharma (b. 1975) is a postgraduate in English and Film Studies from Jadavpur University. He has been working as an independent film maker and a theatre practitioner since last 30 years engaging himself in a variety of activities- Films, Theatre and Academics. He has directed two feature films, five documentaries and produced multiple contents for television and web media. He is also engaged with theatre as an actor, playwright and a director and has collaborated in many national and international projects. He is the Founder- Director of Chaepani, a forum of ideas and expressions through art forms. Academically, he teaches Film Studies in different Universities in India and abroad.