Cyriac Jacob

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Cyriac Jacob is a positive, disciplined, organized and an easy to work with person, with 35 years’ experience in finance and accounting. He has retired from Terumo Penpol GM (Finance), after leading their finance team for 15 years. He has implemented various cost reduction, Lean and Kaizen ideas which resulted in big savings of cash and time, and efficiently managed the cash flow situation during the 2 years of Covid.

Cyriac is a bibliophile, and he likes listening to songs. He is keen on doing research on movie songs. Cyriac writes poems and short stories. He can talk interchanging the 2nd, 4th and 6th letter of words with 1st, 3rd and 5th letter and so on, a different kind of spoonerism (for fun purpose only).

Smriti Rana

Head – Strategic Programs & Partnerships

Smriti Rana is deeply invested in the cause of palliative care accessibility. She uses her voice to amplify the voices of the underserved, and is dedicated to increasing safe access to adequate pain relief and patient support across the continuum of care. Smriti is a strong advocate for health system reform through advocacy.

Smriti has represented the Civil Society perspective from the Global South at several high level events, including at the UN and the WHO. She has been part of international guideline development groups and expert consultative groups. Internationally, her work focuses on equitable access to pain relief and decolonizing health care. She is the India Advocacy Focal Point for the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care, and is a Board Member at the International Drug Policy Consortium.

An avid birdwatcher and a keen observer of wildlife and the natural world, Smriti is also a Science, History and Poetry enthusiast. She has been a TEDx speaker, and is passionate about the role of storytelling in the medical humanities.

Dr. Sreedevi Warrier

Head – Education and Skill Building

Having a decade of experience of being a clinician, a teacher and a mentor Dr Sreedevi Warrier is actively nurturing her passion for spreading the worthiness of Palliative Care across the country.

She has done her Masters in Palliative Medicine from Cardiff University, Wales and is an Honorary Tutor with them. She has worked as a Senior Clinical Research Fellow in the collaborative project with UCSF and Manipal University on intersectionality in HIV, cancer and Palliative care. She has won the prestigious Commonwealth scholarship and spoken at various conferences and is a national faculty for many training programs in the country.

Apart from the full time job of taking care of 2 school going kids, during her little spare time, she is also a long distance runner, a trained Indian classical dancer in Bharat Natyam and Mohiniyattam.

Dr. M R Rajagopal

Chairman Emeritus

Anaesthesiologist and intensivist-turned-palliative care physician, Dr Rajagopal’s initiatives contributed to the simplification and amendment of the NDPS Act of India (2014) and to the development of a Government policy on Palliative Care in Kerala (2008) and Government of India’s National Palliative Care Strategy (2012).

Dr. Rajagopal founded Pallium India in 2003, with a mission to catalyse and facilitate integration of palliative care with healthcare in India.

Human Rights Watch honored him with Alison Des Forges award in 2014. In 2017, Moonshine Agency, Australia, released a documentary titled “Hippocratic: 18 experiments in gently shaking the world” based on Dr. Rajagopal’s work. He was honored with Padma Shri, the third highest civilian award of India (2018).

Dr Rajagopal’s memoir titled ‘Walk with the Weary: Life-changing Lessons in Healthcare’ was published in 2022. Dr Rajagopal believes in a balance between compassion and competence in medicine. He enjoys walking and reading.

Binod Hariharan

Chairman

Binod Hariharan is an engineering graduate with three decades of experience in different capacities. He is a successful entrepreneur and on the board of 3 IT companies. He has been a trustee of Pallium India for over ten years and has been actively involved with the organization since its inception. Binod has been a volunteer with Pain and Palliative care society, Calicut, and has held the position of Vice President IAPC, Kerala.

Binod is a strong believer in the power of ‘Listening’, ‘Collaborating’ and ‘Building communities’.

Poonam Bagai

Vice–Chairman

An ex-bureaucrat, Ms Poonam Bagai is a cancer survivor. Her fight with cancer left her with the determination to do something about it and she founded “Cankids…Kidscan”, a very successful Non-Government Organization that provides comprehensive cancer care to children in many parts of India. She is also a joint secretary of the Indian Cancer Society. In 2011, the American Cancer Society chose her to be a “Global Cancer Ambassador”. She is based in New Delhi.

S M Vijayanand

Trustee

Former secretary for Rural Development of Government of India and later Chief Secretary of the government of Kerala. He heads Kerala State Finance Commission and is based in Trivandrum. Enjoys a great reputation as a person with integrity, commitment and exceptional pragmatism. Has been active as an advisor to Pallium India for two years before becoming a trustee.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan

Trustee

As the chief scientist at the World Health Organization, Dr Soumya has lead the Science Division during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that, she was the Deputy Director General of Programmes (DDP) at the World Health Organization. She has also held various senior positions at Indian Council for Medical Research, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis.

Dr. Vijayakumar K

Trustee

Dr Vijayakumar K has been the Prof & HOD for community medicine at Amrita Institute of Medical Science, Kochi and also the Professor of Community Medicine at CSI Medical College and Medical college Trivandrum. He has multiple national and international publications to his name and is a well known public health activist.

Dr. C Mohanan

Trustee

An Anaesthesiologist by training and till recently a member of the teaching faculty at a Medical College, Dr Mohanan was volunteering as Senior Administrator of Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences since its inception. He has been associated with Pallium India activities since 2006.

Ashla Rani

Trustee

Ashla Rani had come to Pallium India as a care receiver in 2014, became a full-time volunteer and is now both a care recipient and a care provider. She works with people with disabilities and also acts as a counselor for children whose families have been devastated by serious illnesses.

She won Kerala Government’s “youth icon” award in 2017. In the same year, she also won the state award for the most efficient employee in the non-government sector.

Dr. T S Guruprasad

Trustee

A caregiver for wife living with MS and father who passed away due to Parkinsonism and Alzheimer’s for many years, Dr. Guruprasad is the Co-Founder Trustee of Swarga Foundation, an NGO based in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, that supports people with neurological diseases and disorders.

He has a doctorate in Supply Chain Management and is an alumni of IIM Kozhikode. He has 24 years of industry experience in the Supply chain planning & Logistics. He is also the brain behind Sarathi, Tamilnadu’s first transport facility for people with disabilities.

Dr. Vandana Gopikumar

Trustee

Vandana Gopikumar, co-founder of The Banyan, is a visionary advocate for homeless individuals with mental health issues. Since 1993, she has pioneered an inclusive approach to institutional care and created innovative models for those in need.

Vandana mentors a second line that leads both The Banyan and BALM, offering strategic direction and clinical expertise. Recognized internationally, she has received prestigious awards, including the Renfield Foundation Award for Women’s Health and the WHO Public Health Champion Award. Vandana has developed three critical models of care for persons from ultra vulnerable communities that have been adopted by various stakeholders in India and in two other LMICs. Through the Other Identity Foundation, she amplifies marginalized voices and fosters dialogue on mental health and human rights.

In her spare time, Vandana finds inspiration in her dogs, movies, writing, and reflecting. Her dedication as a trustee of BALM continues to shape the organization’s transformative impact in mental health and social empowerment.

Dr. Rajam Iyer

Trustee

Dr. Rajam Iyer is a Consultant Pulmonologist and palliative care physician at Bhatia and Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai.

With a Masters in Respiratory Medicine, her experience includes 28years of clinical work both in India and international settings.

She is an MD: Pulmonary Medicine: Bombay University-1995, MRCP (UK) 2006 .

She has a fellowship in Palliative Medicine from IPM- Calicut-2018 and a PG Diploma in Palliative Medicine from Cardiff University, UK.

Justice M.R. Hariharan Nair

He served at various levels under the Kerala Judicial Service from 1976 to 1999 and as a Judge of the High Court of Kerala from March 1999 till May 2013.

After retirement, he continued to serve on various judicial Commissions. This includes Chairmanship of Kerala State Prison Review Committee (2006-2008), Ombudsman for Local Bodies (2008-2011), Inquiry Commission for Pullumedu (Sabarimala) stampede incident (2011-12) Fishermen Debt Relief Commission (2012-17) Commission to study backwardness of Nadar community (2018-19) and Commission for Economically Backward among Forward Communities (2019-2022).
He was the Chairman of the Institutional Ethics Committee of the Sree Chithira Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences, Trivandrum from 2004-2014.

He is currently the Chairman of the University Ethics Committee of the Kerala University of Health Sciences, Thrissur and the Research Ethics Committee of Kerala University.

Swarup B R

Swarup B R is a brand strategist and communications leader with over three decades of experience.
As Creative Director and Managing Director of Stark Communications (1994-2014), he played a key role in transforming Kerala into a premier global tourism destination through award-winning campaigns like Your Moment Is Waiting, some of which were featured in Philip Kotler’s Marketing Management.
Since founding BR&S Consultants in 2014, he specialized in healthcare and tourism branding. His work establishing Aster Medcity as Kerala’s most powerful healthcare brand redefined healthcare communication across the State.
A respected thought leader, Swarup serves as pro-bono advisor to high-impact social initiatives
including The Fourth Wave Foundation and Pallium India. He’s been a Grand Jury member at New York
Festivals Advertising Awards and a Literary Translator for HarperCollins. His executive education
includes programs from Insead, IIM-A and Kellogg.
Swarup’s holistic approach combines intuitive creativity with strategic planning, making him a unique
voice in brand building and communications across multiple industries.

Kishore Nair

Kishore Nair has volunteered as a technical and management advisor for Pallium India since its inception. His background is in architecting technical solutions and in building high performance teams. With over twenty years of experience at companies like Yahoo!, Morningstar and Envestnet, he has spent most of his career in the US and is now settled in Trivandrum with his family.

Kishore has an engineering degree from College of Engineering Trivandrum, an MS from Cleveland State University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management.

Leena M Nair

Leena is a senior leadership and organizational development professional with over two decades of experience across global and diverse industries — including technology, semiconductors, digital marketing, animation, manufacturing and retail. She works with senior business leaders across APAC, Europe, the UK, USA, and Israel, to deliver high-impact business outcomes.

Her most recent full-time global roles include Director – Talent Development at Arm Ltd. and Sr. Director HRBP at Epsilon (Publicis Groupe).