Karen Katen : has been appointed as the president of the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Group and executive vice-president of Pfizer Inc to oversee the global operation. According to a report, Karen will also retain her duties as president of the US pharmaceutical operations while the new assignment would become effective from April 1 onwards.

G. Dakshinamurthy : has taken over as new Director, Drug Control Administration, Tamil Nadu. Prior to the present assignment, he was the Deputy Director (Enforcement Wing) based in Chennai. Born in Salem in 1944, he joined the Department in 1971 as a drug inspector. In 1993, he was posted as the Assistant Director, Coimbatore zone, a post, which he held till 1997, whereafter he was posted as the Assistant Director (Madurai zone). In 1999, he was made the Assistant Director, Vellore zone. Dakshinamurthy has to his credit many successful raids that resulted in closure or cancelling of licences.

Kishore Chokhani : was elected chairman of the Basic Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics Export Promotion Council (Chemexcil) for the year 2000-2001. Chokhani, a B.Com. and LLB from the University of Mumbai, started his career as a garment exporter and has been in the field of pharmaceuticals exports for the last 14 years. He is the managing director of Euro Asia Trans Continental, which is involved in exporting pharmaceuticals, flavours and food colours.

The company has bagged several awards for excellence in exports. Chokhani has travelled all over the world and has been involved in marketing of new products to new markets and has addressed various conferences on the Indian pharmaceutical industry on behalf of Chemexcil.

Chirayu R Amin : the chairman and managing director of pharma major Alembic Ltd, assumed the office of president, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) for 2000-01 at the conclusion of the Chamber's 73rd session. Amin, who has been a senior member of the executive committee of Ficci for several years, earlier held posts like chairman Ficci committees on management and environment besides heading the Indo-Italian and Indo-Spanish joint business councils.

Ramesh Subramanian : director (finance), Hoechst Marion Roussel Ltd will be taking over as the managing director of the company from November 1, 2000. Subramanian succeeds Debabrata Bhadury whose term ends on October 31, 2000

K D Tripathi : an Assam cadre IAS officer takes charge as member secretary, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) effective August 14, 2000. Tripathi, who is now a director with the department of tourism, would replace S K Sood, who has completed his five-year tenure with the Central government.

D D Chopra : former chairman and managing director of Rhone-Poulenc India has joined the Board of J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Limited with effect from April 3, 2000. Mr. Chopra has been an industry stalwart having taken responsible tasks on various government forums. A vociferous advocate of liberalised pharmaceutical industry, Chopra has now involved himself with many growth-oriented medium sized companies. For Rhone Poulenc, Chopra played a pivotal role as its managing director, before retiring recently. Chopra is also on the board of directors of other medium-sized companies like Morepen Labs and Ind-Swift.

Dr. D. S. Bakhle : presently medical director, Lupin Laboratories will be joining Novartis India from shortly in a similar capacity. Dr Bakhle has served several multinational companies like Glaxo, Hoechst and Fulford. With more than 18 years experience in various aspects of pharmaceutical medicine like medical informatics, medico-marketing thrust, original research and image perception management. An academician at heart Dr Bakhle's growth trajectory is far from over.

J. S. Sastry : vice-president (international business), IPCA Laboratories till recently has joined Chandigarh based Ind-Swift Ltd as Senior Vice President (marketing). Sastry is an expert in the far-east markets and helped IPCA penetrate into newer markets in the region. Sastry has served Cadila Healthcare and Hoechst in several positions in the marketing departments. Sastry is now busy drawing strategies for Ind Swift and enable it get a footing in the high value bulk actives markets in the international arena.

Dr. Arun Bhatt : medical director at Novartis has joined Centre for Medical Innovation, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the German research company CMI GMbH doing intensive research in natural compounds based on herbal extracts.

Nitin Ghadiyar : managing director, Reckitt Piramal Ltd has joined as President of Jansen Cilag, part of Johnson and Johnson Group. Ghadiyar is a success story so far as developing brands is concerned. At Warner Lambert, Ghadiyar developed several hit brands, the top of the rank being Halls. Records prove that Ghadiyar, a die-hard professional, has a penchant for far-exceeding the projected targets set for his brands.