Sharmila Anandasabapathy

Sharmila Anandasabapathy, MD is a Professor of Medicine in Gastroenterology, and Vice President at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. In her current role, she oversees Baylor’s global programs and affiliations, as well as The Baylor Global Innovation Center which seeks to develop innovative approaches to global health challenges.

An advanced gastrointestinal endoscopist by training, Dr. Anandasabapathy’s research focus involves the development and validation of novel technologies for the diagnosis and management of gastrointestinal cancer. She has been Principal Investigator on several grants funded by the National Cancer Institute (NIH), and has lead multiple international clinical trials focused on the endoscopic diagnosis of esophageal, and gastric cancer. These trials are currently being conducted in the United States, Africa, China, and Honduras.

In addition, she and her group are involved in several projects which seek to develop innovative technological approaches to addressing cancer and other chronic diseases in low-resource areas worldwide. These involve the development of remote medical technologies such as augmented (and virtual) reality-based platforms for surgical or endoscopic training, cell phone apps, and portable, battery-operated technologies for medical management in low-resource environments. These partnerships involve close collaborations with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), USAID, multiple US and international universities, NGOS, foreign governments, and Foundations. A recent innovation, Emergency Smart Pod (https://www.bcm.edu/global-initiatives/innovation-center/emergency-smart-pod a mobile, lower-cost shipping-container unit for the management of Ebola and other emergencies, was awarded funding by USAID and The Paul G. Allen Funding and presented at both the World Health Organization and The White House Office of Science and Technology.