Ronak Savla is the Scientific Affairs Manager at Catalent Pharma Solutions and the Catalent Applied Drug Delivery Institute. He earned his Pharm.D. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University. His current research interests include the application of in silico models and simulations to aid in drug formulation design, integration of novel formulation technologies into the industry, and patient centric drug design. Dr. Savla is an author or co-author on over 35 publications including peer reviewed papers, articles, conference proceedings, and posters.
1. What was your inspiration to get into the industry?
I love the combination of the cutting edge science and the collaborative work environment. I have always been fascinated how taking a medicine can treat and cure diseases. Fundamentally, disease is a biological challenge. I became interested in pharmaceutics because it is an interdisciplinary field. We use chemistry backed a physics foundation to solve a biological problem Being in industry, I get to work with different teams and a variety of projects. There’s never a dull moment.
2. What is your favourite part of presenting to a live audience?
I believe that in order to truly understand a concept, you have to be able to teach it to someone else. There are numerous ways to do this. However, there’s a certain excitement in presenting to a live audience. It’s not one-sided, you can gauge your performance in real time, adjust your approach, and interact with the audience.
3. What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?
A couple years after insulin was discovered, scientists began trying to delivery by routes other than by injection. Almost a hundred years later, we only have a handful of successful examples of peptides delivered by non-invasive routes. I want the audience to understand that solving this challenge requires understanding the fundamentals of what we’re trying to accomplish, approaching the problem from multiple angles, and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.
4. Where is your favourite place in the world and why?
New York City is my favorite place. It has a vibrant environment. There are always things to do and new places to explore. There are very few, if any, cities that compare to New York’s cultural diversity.
Join Ronak in the Catalent webinar ‘Overcoming Barriers to Non-invasive Delivery of Macromolecules‘. Register now!