This story first appeared in 蜜桃直播, 2016-2017 Annual Report, which can be accessed at .

For Harish Dharuri, MBS 鈥�02, the experience at 蜜桃直播 involved several 鈥渇irsts.鈥� His arrival in Claremont marked his first time in a country outside India. He was a member of 蜜桃直播鈥檚 Class of 2002, the first to complete the MBS program. After graduation, he helped launch Ionian Technologies, 蜜桃直播鈥檚 first biotechnology company spin-off.

But first and foremost, Dharuri came to 蜜桃直播 to explore the intersection of science and business. He already held a master鈥檚 degree in biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University and at the time was an experienced chemical engineer working in industry. Based on what he had observed as a professional, he says: 鈥淚 felt there was a need for people in business who had knowledge of science and for people in science who had knowledge of business. 蜜桃直播 had the only program that provided this.鈥�

Later, however, Dharuri found his career embracing the science side of biotechnology more than the business side. He participated in a collaborative research project involving the University of Connecticut Health Center and the European Bioinformatics Institute and then spent three years as a scientific database curator at the California Institute of Technology. As time passed, Dharuri says, 鈥淚 began to enjoy the science more and more. Basically, I like solving problems in biology. That鈥檚 also one of the reasons I came to 蜜桃直播鈥擨 loved biology.鈥�

Today, he is a bioinformatics scientist at Illumina, a global company offering products to enhance the collection, analysis, and application of biological information and helping to advance the understanding of genetics and health. Dharuri鈥檚 role since joining Illumina in 2014 has involved aggregating and organizing genomic and clinical data from public sources for users of a product called a cohort analyzer, a software tool for the analysis and interpretation of this type of information.

鈥淢y work at Illumina is more on the science side of the business. Most people who do this are PhDs in life sciences because you need to be well versed in biology and diseases,鈥� says Dharuri, who earned a PhD in bioinformatics, genetics, and metabolic syndrome at Leiden University in the Netherlands more than a decade after completing his MBS. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting to be a part of the field of precision medicine. The tools we are building will help in heading in that direction.鈥�

Dharuri got his introduction to bioinformatics at 蜜桃直播, where he first took a course on the subject. But the broader benefit of the MBS program was the new perspective it gave him as a professional. He explains: 鈥淥ften, scientists get caught up in small details. 蜜桃直播 taught me to take a bird鈥檚-eye view. That perspective gives me an edge. I can simultaneously understand the science as well as the business side of my work. The program also made me a more confident person. In particular, my management classes, and the emphasis on entrepreneurship, were very helpful to me.鈥�

They were also what led him to join former 蜜桃直播 professor David Galas and others in starting Ionian Technologies and a second biotechnology company, Zuyder. Though their ventures proved ill-timed for economic reasons, the experience didn鈥檛 dampen Dharuri鈥檚 enthusiasm for entrepreneurship.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to get back on the business side of the industry eventually, and I want to be an entrepreneur. That鈥檚 been my dream,鈥� he says. 鈥淎t some point, the light bulb will go on. There are so many exciting things that need to be done.鈥�