Health Sector Leader Turns Full-Circle To Bring His Expertise To Leo Cancer Care

Our Executive Advisor to the Board has steered an impressive career path and his capabilities will help to play an integral role in the future success of our company

Hard work and dedication plus a sprinkling of serendipity have all contributed to the successful and ongoing career of Dr Ajit Singh.

From learning how to deal with being uprooted and moving to different locations as a schoolboy  to being lucky enough to be mentored by a world-renowned and ‘one-of-a-kind’ academic, scientist and business leader, Ajit has come full circle and now spends a lot of his time helping talented entrepreneurs.

As Leo Cancer Care’s Executive Advisor to the Board, he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the company and shares our passion and enthusiasm for making our upright positioning system for delivery of radiation therapy to eventually become a solution-of-choice globally.

His first job was with the multinational technology giant Siemens and where he then stayed for 20 years.

At the age of 37, he was made a global CEO Siemens Oncology Group and his working life took him to more than 100 countries exposing him to the many different cultures. And while he happily admits some moves up the career ladder were literally a ‘baptism by fire’ the mobile nature of his youth stood him in good stead.

He said: “My father was an engineer working for Indian Railways and every time he was appointed to a new project, my mother, my younger brother and I moved with him.

“My brother and I became pretty robust in terms of being able to uproot, move and settle somewhere else.”

The three degrees

It was, therefore, when he found himself at just 17, away from home studying for his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Banaras Hindu University in the historic town of Varanasi, in India, that he didn’t find the change at all traumatic.

Making the most of his robustness, Ajit sought to further his education in the US completing in just a year his master’s degree in Computer Engineering at Syracuse University, after which he moved to New York City to study for his PhD in Computer Science at Columbia University.

A month after he arrived at Columbia, in October 1986, his world was shattered with the news his father had died and he immediately flew back to India for the funeral.

“It was a very testing time for me, as I then wondered if I should ditch my PhD and stay in India or power through. I chose the latter. Those four years in New York were truly transformational in that there was so much growth for me – professionally, academically and emotionally,” he said.

“It was also character-building, and I did a whole bunch of things including driving a taxi for a year to earn some extra money. That was a hard existence as a Sikh wearing a turban, but I learned a lot from that process, became financially independent and met some interesting people.”

Having made the choice to work in industry, Ajit interviewed for only one job and that was at Siemens as a research scientist which led to him working in a lab at Princeton, New Jersey, looking at Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Computer Vision and Image Analysis.

One-of-a-kind mentor

After five years, he moved to Siemens medical group where he spent the next 15 answering to only one boss, Professor Erich Reinhardt, CEO and President of Medical Solutions, who was in the mid-1990s credited with turning around the fortunes of the then failing healthcare business.

Reinhardt doubled revenues in seven years and expanded the focus from imaging equipment to healthcare IT and Diagnostics, and overseeing the acquisition of a number of medical and diagnostic companies making Siemens number one in the field.

Ajit said: “Reinhardt was a physics professor, a music conductor and CEO of one of the most successful medical health businesses on the planet.

“He had an amalgamation of the left brain, right brain skills. To be mentored by someone like Reinhardt doesn’t happen that often. It was a privilege being coached by somebody that good. He is truly one of a kind.”

Ajit held various posts including Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Radiology and Medical informatics business, President and CEO of the Oncology Care Systems Group and Group Vice President of Siemens e-Health.

Never a dull moment

He says of his time spent at the company, that there was never a dull moment as within such a large and complex organisation with so many different product lines, there was always something new to learn.

Also being guided by Reinhardt meant he could draw upon all his learnings from him and all the experiences he gained from the vast number of countries he was able to spend significant amounts of time in.

“The first team I built had nine people and I still work with all of them today in some way or another. That level of camaraderie and trusted relationships which are deep and not just superficial is another great joy of working for a large company for a long time,” said Ajit.

Coming into the healthcare sector was serendipitous. It was actually not in his plan and happened more by accident than design.

“Once I was here, however, I did plan to stay. It is such a fascinating business and profession,” he said.

Bad timing, good result

By the time Ajit was in his mid-40s, he hit something of a mid-life crisis. He knew that if he ever wanted to work with a start-up business, now was the time, in his words, “I might not have the motivation to do so if I waited until my 50s.”

He left Siemens on September 3rd 2008 and joined Biolmagene, a digital pathology start-up company. Two weeks later the global financial crisis hit and after a gruelling 18 months steering the company, it was acquired by Roche.

Ajit said: “The timing was impeccably chosen to be as horrible as it could be. Financial resources in the market dried up and we had to be extremely frugal with capital. Nonetheless we worked relentlessly to build the company and received an unsolicited offer from Roche who acquired the company for $100 million.”

In 2011, he joined venture capital firm Artiman, which has offices in Silicon Valley, California, and Bangalore, India, where he remains today as a Partner and Managing Director focusing on early-stage Technology and Life Science Investments.

Two peas in a pod

A first meeting with Leo Cancer Care’s CEO Stephen Towe happened around 2018. “Stephen came to pitch to me in my capacity at Artiman and immediately it felt like we were like two peas in a pod. I could see a younger version of myself in him.

“While Artiman focuses investment exclusively on diagnostics, I had previously been the CEO of Siemens Radiation Oncology business. This was something I had lived and breathed and so I said to Stephen if there is anything I can do to help, let me know.”

Ultimately,  this led to Ajit becoming a member of Leo Cancer Care’s board with the specific responsibility of advisor to Stephen.

“I described myself as being the sparring partner to Stephen,” he said. “It’s lonely at the top and you do need somebody who is  a true non-judgemental ally and who is going to listen to your concerns and difficulties.”

During this time, Ajit has also “rolled up his sleeves” when required and has accompanied Stephen to meet potential customers and investors, as well as helping the team to brainstorm on operational issues.

In February 2024, Ajit accepted an enhanced position in order to widen the scope of his knowledge and expertise to the board and now serves as Executive Advisor to the Board.

Ajit loves to read and write. He enjoys subjects that he has no direct association with, such as philosophy and politics. Every year, he writes book reviews published by a wide range of online blogs and journals. He said: “It nurtures my curiosity and exposes me to new ideas.”