Advances in Surgical and Medical Specialties

Raj Bawa, PhD, MD, is president of Bawa Biotech LLC (founded in 2002), a biotech/pharma consultancy and patent law firm based in Ashburn, Virginia, USA. Trained as a microbiologist and biochemist, he is an inventor, author, entrepreneur, professor, and registered patent agent (since 2002) licensed to practice before the US Patent & Trademark Office. He is currently a scientific advisor to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Israel (since 2010), and full professor (adjunct) at Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale, Virginia (since 2004). He is vice president and chief IP officer at Guanine, Inc., Rensselaer, New York (since 2017), a company focused on rapid, accurate detection of infective pathogens. He has served as a principal investigator of various National Cancer Institute (NCI) research grants; most recently as a principal investigator of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant to develop an assay for Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-producing bacteria. He was an adjunct professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, from 1998 to 2018. After earning a BSc (Honors School) in microbiology, he earned an MS in cancer biology, a PhD in biophysics/biochemistry, and an MD. In the 1990s, Dr. Bawa held various positions at the US Patent & Trademark Office, including primary examiner from 1996–2002. Currently, he is a life member of Sigma Xi, cochair of the nanotech and precision medicine committees of the American Bar Association, and founding director of the American Society for Nanomedicine (established in 2008). He has authored over 100 publications, edited 10 texts, and serves on the editorial boards of numerous peer-reviewed journals, including serving as an associate editor of Nanomedicine (Elsevier).