Dr. Ashok Rakhit was a well-regarded Executive and Clinical Pharmacologist in major pharmaceutical industries (Ciba-Geigy, Hoffmann-La Roche and The Medicines Company) during his 40+ years of tenure. After earning his PhD from the University of California at San Francisco, he held various senior-level positions in large pharmaceutical companies and later served as a Senior Fellow at Forest Research Institute. He is also a successful businessman and entrepreneur who recently co- founded a startup focused on developing a digital healthcare platform for remotely monitoring heart failure patients. Ashok Rakhit is probably best known in the Bengali community for his role in the founding of the Bengali heritage center and Hindu temple, Ananda Mandir in Somerset, New Jersey. He is a founding member of Ananda Mandir, a former president, and currently sits on the mandir’s Board of Trustees. Dr. Rakhit also currently serves as the President of the Cultural Association of Bengal, (CAB), the largest Bengali association outside India. CAB is known worldwide as the organizer of the North American Bengali Conference (aka NABC, or Banga Sammelan), which over the last 45 years has celebrated Bengali culture and art every year in various large host cities across North America, namely New York, Toronto, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Atlantic City.