Cancer Biographer Siddhartha Mukherjee and Ex-Twitter Exe. Vijaya Gadde Among Indian American Commencement Speakers

Indian American physician, researcher, and best-selling author Siddhartha Mukherjee will deliver the address at the University of Pennsylvania commencement on May 20 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. He will also receive an honorary doctor of sciences degree.

Former Twitter executive Vijaya Gadde will deliver keynote addresses at this year’s NYU Law Convocation, to be held on May 16, at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Gadde, the former chief legal officer and head of compliance, policy, trust, and safety at Twitter, will provide a keynote address at a morning ceremony for graduating JD students, the university announced. 

National Science Foundation (NSF) director Sethuraman Panchanathan will be the speaker at Northeastern University’s graduate student commencement on May 5 at Fenway Park in Boston. The Indian American computer scientist and engineer was named NSF director in June 2020. 

📣 @NSF director @NSFDrPanch will join us at @fenwaypark to deliver the 2024 graduate commencement address.

Read more: https://t.co/FHuyhUfo3n

— Northeastern U. (@Northeastern) April 3, 2024

An associate professor of medicine at Columbia University and an oncologist at the university’s medical center, Mukherjee is best known as the Pulitzer-winning author of “The Emperor of All Maladies” (2011). His other books include “The Gene: An Intimate History” (2016), and “The Song of the Cell” (2022).  “The Emperor of All Maladies” was included among Time magazine’s 100 best nonfiction books of the past century, and both “The Emperor of All Maladies” and “The Gene” were adapted into PBS documentaries by filmmaker Ken Burns.

A pioneering medical scholar, he has conducted groundbreaking studies into the composition and behavior of cancer cells that have pushed the boundaries of modern medicine. His innovative research signals a paradigm shift in cancer pathology and has enabled the development of treatments that reach beyond current pharmaceutical models toward new biological and cellular therapies.

He writes for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and many other publications. His original research and opinions have been published in journals such as Nature, Cell, and The New England Journal of Medicine. He has received numerous awards for his scientific work.

Gadde led the legal department at Twitter from 2013 until 2022, when it was acquired, first serving as legal director and then general counsel and chief legal officer. 

Before joining Twitter, she served as senior director of legal at Juniper Networks, a Silicon Valley tech company that produces networking hardware and software. She began her legal career at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she worked for a decade.

She serves on the Board of Trustees of NYU Law School and the Board of Directors of Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian aid and development organization, that partners with communities, corporations, and governments. 

She is also a co-founder of #Angels, an investment collective focused on funding diverse and ambitious founders pursuing bold ideas. She earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.S. in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University.

As director of the National Science Foundation Panchanathan, he “maintains leadership roles on several key interagency councils and committees, including as co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” according to his NSF profile.  NSF is a $9.5 billion independent federal agency and the only government agency charged with advancing all fields of scientific discovery, technological innovation, and STEM education.

He is a member of the White House CHIPS Implementation Steering Council and the White House Gender Policy Council. He is also chair of the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee and co-vice chair of the Council for Inclusive Innovation.

“Many of the greatest challenges of our time pose questions that only science can answer,” Northeastern president Joseph E. Aoun told Northeastern Global News. “The unrelenting quest to solve global problems is powered by the brilliant minds of scientists and the unwavering support of federal agencies like the NSF,” he said. “Director Panchanathan’s leadership has been a force in recognizing cutting-edge science’s groundbreaking challenges and opportunities, particularly artificial intelligence.”

Panchanathan is no stranger to Northeastern, the university newspaper said.  He spoke at the grand opening of Northeastern’s 357,000-square-foot EXP research complex on the university’s Boston campus in the fall. “I’m sincerely delighted to be returning to Northeastern University in May to celebrate this year’s graduates,” Panchanathan said.” Their Northeastern education has given them everything they need to succeed in a future that is rich with opportunities,” he added. 

He previously served as the executive vice president of the Arizona State University (ASU) Knowledge Enterprise, where he was also chief research and innovation officer. He was also the founder and director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at ASU. Under his leadership, ASU increased research performance fivefold, earning recognition as the fastest-growing and most innovative research university in the U.S.

Before joining NSF, he was appointed by the president to serve on the National Science Board where he was a chair of the Committee on Strategy and a member of the External Engagement and National Science and Engineering Policy committees. Additionally, he was chair of the Council on Research of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and co-chair of the Extreme Innovation Taskforce of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils. Arizona’s governor appointed him as senior advisor for science and technology in 2018. He was the editor-in-chief of the IEEE Multimedia Magazine and editor and associate editor of several international journals.

He has received numerous awards, including Honorary Doctorates from prestigious universities, Distinguished Alumnus Awards, the Governor’s Innovator of the Year for Academia Award, the Washington Academy of Sciences Distinguished Career Award, and the IEEE-USA Public Service Award.

He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, where he also served as vice president for strategic initiatives. He is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Society of Optical Engineering.

He is married to Sarada “Soumya” Panchanathan, an academic pediatrician and informatician, who has taught medical students, pediatric residents, and informatics fellows. They have two adult children, Amritha and Roshan.