Driven by curiosity, Dr. Arti Patel Varanasi is a passionate leader who seeks to enable equitable solutions that engage individuals to lead healthier lives, yield positive impact for communities, and seed future generations of innovators and change makers. She has over 25 years combined experience in cancer research, advocacy, capacity building, public health and project management and maintains close ties to the medical, public health and research community. Arti’s focus has been on leveraging technology to address chronic disease and advance health equity and justice.

Arti currently is the President and CEO of the social enterprise, Advancing Synergy, LLC. Advancing Synergy served as the technology partner on a grant awarded to Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD from Susan G. Komen for the Cure® to provide virtual, personalized support to women undergoing breast cancer treatment through an innovative technology. Arti was selected by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship to serve as a 2022-2023 Elevate Ambassador along with eleven other advocates to improve survivorship care in their communities. She is a proud graduate of Leadership Howard County and an active member of the health, entrepreneurial, and technology communities in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area. Arti currently serves as Co-Chair of the NCD Interest Group for the CORE Group and Co-Chair of the American Cancer Society National Navigation Roundtable Workforce Development Task Group.

She has previously served in numerous leadership roles, including Steering Committee Member of the Noncommunicable (NCD) Disease Roundtable, Member of the Howard Tech Council (HTC) Advisory Board based in Howard County, MD, Chair of HTC Women in Technology-Central Maryland group, Co-Chair of the HTC Health Tech Innovators group, and Vice Chair of the Women in Technology Women Business Owners Special Interest Group based in Falls Church, VA. From 2012-2016, Dr. Varanasi served on the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice (NACNEP) appointed by then Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. Additionally, Dr. Varanasi enjoys her role as an educator. She is a lecturer in the Master’s in Biotechnology Program at The Johns Hopkins University and co-developed a continuing education course in Health Information Technology Fundamentals for Howard Community College. As an advocate for improving the training of postdoctoral fellows, she was one of the founders of the National Postdoctoral Association, the NCI Fellows and Young Investigators Association, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Fellows Committee. In alignment with her commitment to equity in 2020, Dr. Varanasi cofounded Health Tech Alley, a Maryland-based non-profit, designed to uplift and support healthcare organizations in providing quality and affordable healthcare and servies to those who are underserved.

Arti was a fellow in the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program from 2001-2005 where her research interests focused on nutrition, immunity, and cancer prevention. She received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and MPH from Johns Hopkins University. Her doctoral research focused on understanding the genetic and epigenetic alterations that contribute to the development of lung tumors. Arti is also a graduate of the National Science Foundation funded ACTiVATE® program for women technology entrepreneurs.