Will Predictive Planning Drive the Future of Personalized Care?

Saravana Kumar is currently Vice President of R&D and Operations at 4C Medical Technologies, a company developing an innovative solution for the treatment of mitral valve regurgitation. Prior to 4C Medical, Saravana served as Senior Director of R&D and Operations at Conventus Orthopaedics, and led engineering teams at St. Jude Medical for the successful development and commercialization of a transcatheter aortic valve replacement technology. Saravana received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, his master’s degree from the University of North Carolina, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Delhi in India.

As a Research Scientist at the FDA specializing in the computational modeling of complex physiological systems with a focus on models of the heart, Pras is an expert in the assessment of computational models. Much of his current work regards the development of computational models — together with methods to ensure that model predictions can be trusted — that will allow computational models to be broadly used across medicine, such as in the optimization of medical devices and drugs, simulation-based diagnosis, and therapy. He co-founded and is co-chair of the FDA-wide Modeling and Simulation Working Group, which is made up of nearly 200 scientists across the Agency.