2019 Alumni Agent of Change

Sarvajna Dwivedi, MSc'88, PhD'92

Dr. Sarvajna Dwivedi is a scientist, innovator, leader, and entrepreneur. Dr. Dwivedi has built a twenty-five-year long career in drug development, holding several roles in the pharmaceutical industry, and contributing to the advancement of over 50 molecules in various pharmacological classes, with several major approved products helping patients worldwide.

Dr. Dwivedi co-founded Pearl Therapeutics, Inc. in 2006 and serves as its chief scientific officer. Pearl was acquired by AstraZeneca in 2013 following a $1.15 billion deal, overcoming heavy odds due to the global economic collapse of 2008–12. Dr. Dwivedi also serves as AstraZeneca's chief scientist of pharmaceutical sciences in its Innovative Medicines Biotech Unit. AstraZeneca has funded Dr. Dwivedi's vision of Pearl with an additional $1.5 billion in product advancements, with one product Bevespi® Aerosphere® launched, and several others in the pipeline.

Before Pearl, Dr. Dwivedi was director of product development at Nektar, and focused on new product identification, design, planning, and development. As the director of delivery systems at Alkermes, he established a new department for designing, testing, and quality engineering inhaler devices. At Dura, Dr. Dwivedi led formulation design, scale up, and tech transfer for the Spiros franchise. In his early career at Glaxo, he had an international role as a scientist participating in the development, manufacturing, and approval of Flovent® Diskhaler, Serevent® Diskus, Advair® Diskus, Relenza® Diskhaler, and Ventolin® Evohaler.

Prior to joining industry Dr. Dwivedi conducted award-winning research at UBC, and he continues to promote UBC research through the Mitchell-Dwivedi Graduate Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences, which he established in 2015. Dr. Dwivedi holds an MSc and PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from UBC, and BPharm(Hons) and MPharm from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Banaras Hindu University, India. Dr. Dwivedi has been a recipient of two distinguished alumnus awards from IIT, NRI of the Year – Entrepreneur North America Award from India's Times Now news channel and ICICI Bank, Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist Award for Northern California, Proctor and Gamble Graduate Student Award from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, and Syntax Award from the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada.

Dr. Dwivedi is on the board of AngioSafe Inc., and was previously a director of Reviva Pharmaceuticals Inc., both Silicon Valley companies. He is a mentor to start-ups and entrepreneurs, and supports efforts to educate and feed underprivileged children.

2019 Future Alumni Agent of Change
Tamara Mihic, BSc(Pharm)'13, PharmD'16

2019 Alumni Future Agent of Change recipient Tamara Mihic, BSc(Pharm)'13, PharmD'16 works as a clinical pharmacy specialist at St. Paul's Hospital providing care to patients with mental health and substance use disorders. Her ultimate goal is to improve patient care and she has been involved in projects related to opioid stewardship, naloxone education, early psychosis, clozapine prescribing and monitoring, educational resources for patients, and pharmacist involvement in community mental health teams.

Tamara is a clinical instructor with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC. She is passionate about using interdisciplinary research and teaching to improve the care of patients with mental health and substance use disorders and inspires future pharmacists to do the same.


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