Newly named Emids CEO positions India as one of company’s leading AI Innovation hubs

Nashville-headquartered healthtech firm Emids has appointed Abhishek Shankar as the chief executive officer. Under Shankar’s leadership, the company will accelerate digital adoption and transformation across the healthcare ecosystem by further strengthening its Artificial Intelligence (AI), interoperability, and cloud-driven solutions.

Shankar has over two decades of industry experience. Most recently, he served as president of communications business in Americas at Tech Mahindra, where he supported various global technology service providers in developing and executing large-scale digital transformation initiatives. Before that, he led HCL’s technology and life sciences business in Americas as the senior vice president. 

As per Shankar, Emids is strongly positioned to service its clients for digital transformation in healthcare and life sciences industries, particularly AI, which is poised to impact healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.

After predictive and generative AI, the healthcare industry is moving towards agentic AI — particularly in lifecycle management, Shankar told TechCircle. “In fields like healthcare, agentic AI requires a highly thoughtful approach. It must be developed and implemented by experts who deeply understand the domain to ensure safety, reliability, and positive outcomes for humankind.”

“We have already been engaging with agentic AI, particularly in lifecycle management. This is emerging as a strong early use case, and we anticipate significant advancements in this space,” he added.

“With New Mountain Capital’s continued investment in Emids, we are doubling down on our commitment to AI-led transformation,” said Prasad Chintamaneni, Managing Director at New Mountain Capital and Executive Board Member at Emids. Notably, in September 2019, New Mountain Capital, a growth-oriented investment firm managing over $20 billion in assets, acquired Emids.

Further, in India, Emids has offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Noida. Shankar said that the company wants to position India as one of the hubs for AI-driven healthcare innovation, leveraging its vast talent pool. “India represents our largest engineering footprint globally. Our presence spans key regions, including the NCR region, Hyderabad, and our foundational base in Bangalore. As a healthcare-focused engineering company, we are committed to strengthening our deep domain expertise and expanding our capabilities in AI for healthcare.”

He added that Emids does not serve any India-based customer for now but the country’s multi-layered healthcare ecosystem presents a compelling opportunity to address complex business challenges.

“While it’s too early to make definitive commitments without deeper data analysis, my past experience in scaling healthcare businesses suggests that India has always been a strong market—particularly in consumer healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. Looking ahead, we see potential opportunities in health insurance and other healthcare adjacencies.”

Shankar is succeeding Sean Narayanan as CEO, who was appointed in 2023. He stepped down from the post in August 2023. He is currently serving as senior advisor to Emids in a part-time engagement.