Atul Varadhachary

Dr. Atul Varadhachary is Managing Partner at Fannin Innovation Studio (formerly AlphaDev, LLC.), Houston’s leading early-stage life sciences development group. Fannin helps commercialize innovative technology originating in the Texas Medical Center and elsewhere. We work closely with innovators, contributing active management and seed capital, and leverage non-dilutive and grant funding from the NIH, philanthropy, and the state of Texas to multiply the return on investor dollars.
Atul brings over two decades of experience in life sciences and healthcare in both corporate and entrepreneurial settings. Before Fannin, Atul served as President of U.S. Operations at Reliance Life Sciences (RLS), part of the Reliance Group, India’s largest private sector enterprise with over $70 billion in annual revenues. Atul served for nine years as President & COO of Agennix, Inc., a late-stage biotechnology company where he led advancement of Agennix’s lead molecule from preclinical studies into pivotal Phase 3 human studies and helped lead a successful sale of the company. Atul also served as Senior Engagement Manager at the global management consulting firm, McKinsey & Co.
Atul has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Baylor College of Medicine at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University, and the University of Texas School of Public Health. He serves on the Life Sciences Advisory Committee of the Houston Technology Center, on the BioHouston Advisory Board and on the boards of Pulmotect, Inc., BreviTest Technologies, LLC, Acelerox, LLC, TiE Houston and the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP). He served for four years on the Board of Managers of the Harris Health System (Harris County Hospital District), and has served on the University of Houston Biotechnology Industrial Advisory Committee, and on the Board and as President of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston. He served for five years as President of Pratham USA and is on the Board of the Pratham Education Foundation, one of the largest educational non-profits in the world.
Atul received his medical training at the University of Bombay. He earned a Ph.D. in Physiology followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in Biological Chemistry, both from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he also served as a member of the Medical School Council and as founding President of the Johns Hopkins Postdoctoral Association.
Atul’s wife Gauri is a Medical Oncologist at UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Their daughters are 17 and 13.

Teaching Interests: 

-Biotechnology ventures