WALTHAM, MA–Nikhil Pereira-Kamath is on to something big, something really big in Africa. His passion for health care for those who need the most made his job easy to take a break from the Harvard Business School, and head to Africa to start Africa Healthcare Network.
In an exclusive video interview with Dr. Manju Sheth on Dreamcatchers, Pereira talks about his dream of creating the Africa Healthcare Network, his courage to leave Harvard Business School to pursue his dream and provide health services to those who need the most in the world’s poorest continent.
“I am not a Harvard drop-out. I still have an option to come back and finish my degree,” says Pereira. To see what inspired him to take the African healthcare path, please click here to watch the full interview.
Pereira credits his love and passion for his African healthcare network to his parents: Dr. Sunita Pereira, MD, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Tufts University School of Medicine; and Dr. Brian Pereira, MD, and CEO of Visterra Inc., a Cambridge, MA-based clinical-stage bio-pharmaceutical company.
For better or worse, says Nikhil Pereira that his journey started with the inspiration from his parents who have done a lot of work in setting up dialysis centers in India. He was born in India and moved to the United States with his parents when he was two years old.
“I was born in India, raised in the United States and now I am an African resident,” says Pereira.
Pereira serves as a director and CEO of Africa Healthcare Network, which he founded in June of 2015. The mission of his company, known as AHN, is to establish the first dialysis chain across Sub-Saharan Africa, providing high-quality, life-saving dialysis at affordable cost.
AHN is already bringing together world-class technical expertise combined with developing world practical operating experience to a region in dire need of quality dialysis treatment.
Before joining Harvard Business School, Pereira worked as an associate at Berkshire Partners and as an analyst in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley.
