Forging a Path to Provide Population-Level Health Care

Shri Parikh was raised in a family of physicians and a culture that prioritized health care careers as ones with a noble purpose.

“Growing up it seemed everybody in my family was on that one physician path,” Parikh said. “I think I've got 37 physicians in my total extended family.”

Parikh, too, was headed to medical school. However, after spending a summer in India working with his uncle in cardiovascular surgery, he decided to pursue an alternative path.

"Ultimately, I challenged myself and my family with a new mission, asking how we more effectively treat the masses?” Parikh said. “My new course disappointed many in my family, but I left India with a desire to learn: What is it that I could do to impact more people?"

Driven to justify the “rebellious” choice, Parikh excelled in his career in the life sciences and medical device space. Today, he is president of OVIK Health, a Portsmouth-based subsidiary of Milliken & Company, which creates bandages, wraps and compression solutions for wound care, sports medicine and veterinary applications.

“My mission is to extend and enhance the quality of patient lives through mobility," Parikh said. “I'm really proud of the significant strides we've made to reduce our cost basis, therefore improving the affordability and accessibility to these higher quality and more sophisticated products, improving patient outcomes.”

He says that each of his past jobs has prepared him for the next.

“Something that my dad raised me with is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi that I just seem to always revisit because it grounds me is: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world,’” Parikh said. “So, I think that coming from that heritage of science, you're always seeking innovation and continuous improvement.”

Building on his undergraduate studies of economics and medical ethics at Davidson College, Parikh joined Bristol Myers Squibb in the late 1990s in R&D focus and development but quickly moved into sales. Sales led to leadership positions. Leadership roles advanced into running larger divisions, entire operations and organizations here in the US and global markets.

“I started my career having just great access to folks who ultimately became my outstanding mentors and influencers,” he said.

Parikh worked in various roles for St. Jude Medical, Stryker, Mölnlycke and Sanuwave before founding the Mobile Health Company, a wound care-focused service in Georgia.

Leading OVIK Health has reinforced Parikh’s commitment to innovation.

“Leading science-based entrepreneurs in healthcare allows me to understand the marriage of chemistry and textiles that can improve a patient’s experience,” Parikh said. "Together, chemistries and textiles fight off infections faster and more effectively while reducing avoidable costs.”

Highlighting the different roles in health care is something Parikh thinks the life sciences industry could do better to attract the next generation of innovators.

"A lot of it is behind the scenes, and it's deeply rooted in science,” he said. “I was just talking to a young peer group, and “science” elicited a cringed look in the young faces of these kids because their association with science isn't a true appreciation of what science can do.”

Parikh feels leaders in this industry have a responsibility to excite younger workers.

“This is far more fascinating than anything out there," Parikh said. “And it has the ability to have so much great impact on the masses."