Born and brought up in a village in Srikakulam, in an educated family of government employees who also consider themselves farmers engaged in full-time farming while working, Mr. M. Srinivas Rao is the only graduate in his family who chose pharmacy as a profession, the remaining all being Doctors and Engineers.

Mr. Srinivas Rao completed his schooling at Saint Joseph's High School, Srikakulam, and pursued B. Pharmacy degree from Hindu College of Pharmacy, Guntur, from 2005 to 2009. During his studies, he participated in several inter-college events and achieved first place in the Guntur District at the district-level inter-college pharma debate competition held by Medplus. He further secured third place in the state-level competition held in Hyderabad in 2008 and won prize money and commendation.

He also secured first place in a state-level pharma quiz competition conducted in 2009 at Chebrolu Hanumaiah Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guntur, in which students from 56 colleges across the state participated. In the same year, he appeared for the Graduate Aptitude Test Exam (GATE), the common all-India PG entrance exam for postgraduate studies in pharmacy, and achieved an all-India rank of 83 with a percentile of 99.63. He later secured admission for PG at the reputed Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (DIPSAR). However, he chose to appear for the NIPER exam and secured an all-India rank of 283. He joined NIPER (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research), an institute of national importance, and was admitted into the MS program in his favored specialization, "Pharmacology and Toxicology." He became the first student in the history of Hindu College of Pharmacy to join the prestigious NIPER for postgraduate studies in pharmacy which later inspired several of his juniors to crack the NIPER exam.

During his master's program, he developed a research interest and worked full-time on a project on anti-inflammatory investigations in acute and chronic models of inflammation in Swiss albino rats. He had multidisciplinary exposure to several animal experimental models of pain, inflammation, wound healing, testicular toxicity, depression, and anxiety. He then worked under the guidance of esteemed professors from Gauhati Medical College, Gauhati University, IIT Gauhati, and the College of Veterinary Sciences, Khanapara, and completed his master's with first-division honors.

He also assisted his fellow graduates into similar research such as the evaluation of prophylactic antibiotics in inpatients undergoing surgical care and pharmacovigilance etc. During his master's program, he was equipped with the necessary expertise in the design of suitable experimental models for pre-clinical studies and performing statistical analysis. During this period, he also completed a General Course on Intellectual Property Rights, in an exam conducted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, Switzerland, and obtained certification.

Further, while exploring career opportunities, he interviewed at IIT Mumbai for admission into a PhD program. At the same time, he excelled in a campus interview conducted by one of the largest biotechnology giants in Asia and joined as a Scientific Officer in 2011. He then worked for two years at Hyderabad responsible for several key tasks such as Medical Science Liaison, providing information on the latest updates and literature in medicine to doctors, to Training & Skill Development of field force wherein he has trained more than 200 business executives all over India and conducting Disease awareness, update and management sessions to Doctors, Nurses and Patients. Within a short span, he was promoted to a managerial level and was placed at Bangalore headquarters in the Product Management Team. After a year, although he was the youngest on the team, he was assigned key responsibility of handling an individual brand of insulin with 16 stock-keeping units (SKUs) worth approximately 100 crores, which was the largest brand for the company at that time. During his tenure as a brand manager, he indirectly managed a team of over 600 people having experiences ranging from 0-16 years and with various educational, cultural, professional backgrounds and belonging to several states across India. He gained expertise in various facets of pharma brand promotion and management, new product launch, product life cycle management, marketing, market research and analysis, and training and development. It is pertinent to note that the brand positioning and campaigns designed by him continue to be used by his former organization even after nine years since he left.

During his tenure at Bangalore, he launched a novel insulin delivery device and an oral anti-diabetic agent for the company he worked for. He then travelled extensively across India, participated in various national conferences and symposia, conducted several CMEs with noted international speakers, and worked alongside an American multinational medical technology company specialized in the manufacture of safety injection needles and syringes to improve therapeutic outcomes in patients undergoing insulin treatment by promoting less painful injection techniques. He also hosted several Nurse Education Programs (NEP) and Patient Education Programs (PEP) in corporate hospitals in Hyderabad and for doctors at a government hospital in Tirupati.

During his stint at Hyderabad and Bangalore, he had the opportunity to understand the dynamics of the pharma industry, the nuances of pharma marketing, and the role of the pharma industry in public health. He had several in-person meetings with doctors of repute in the field of Cardiovascular and Diabetes management and several organizations involved in pharmaceutical market research and data analysis, such as AIOCD AWACS, IMS (now IQVIA), and CMARC. This helped him closely study and understand changes in prescription habits and trends, the evolution of new therapies and molecules, and geographical differences in disease burden and progression and the rational differences in treatment modalities adopted by doctors from various places across India.

While working full-time in his private job, he appeared for the Drugs Inspector Exam conducted by APPSC and secured the post of Drugs Inspector in the year 2015. He was then posted and worked extensively in Kadapa District. During this period, he has played an active role in identifying several drug law violations, such as illegally diverted physician samples stocked in godowns and unlicensed sale premises etc., and also took active part in investigating the spurious drug racket based at Jaipur.

Further, he worked as Drugs Inspector in Vizianagaram District for almost five years. During his tenure, he identified and seized huge quantity of abortion kits in an unlicensed premises during a state-level special operation on abortifacients conducted by the Drug Control Department and was the only officer in the entire state who could do so during that operation for which he then received commendation certificate from the then Director General for his intelligence and steadfastness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he participated in joint surprise operations with the Vigilance and Enforcement Department across Vizianagaram District and during the second wave, he was a member of the district-level flying squad in Vizianagaram District and was the first officer in the state, to identify cases of misuse of Remdesivir vials by corporate hospitals by manipulating patient case sheets.

Further, he was transferred and posted as Drugs Inspector in Visakhapatnam, where he detected several NSQ/spurious drugs and conducted several seizures worth 60 lakhs of drugs held in unlicensed possession. He received conviction judgments in which the accused in five different cases were convicted by various courts in Visakhapatnam. He has toured the states of Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu for the execution of warrants, serving of accused summons, and investigation of spurious drug cases. Apart from day-to-day enforcement activities, he has actively participated in several deliberations with state and central agencies regarding the prevention of drug and substance abuse among children, tackling drug abuse and drug trafficking, consumer awareness on drug laws, EODB in the Global Investors Summit G20 at Visakhapatnam, and has also organized an awareness workshop in collaboration with CDSCO and APDCA for drug manufacturers in Andhra Pradesh regarding the amendment of statutory provisions related to the requirements of manufacture of Drugs. He has also completed a weekday residential training/evaluation on "Risk-Based Inspections of Drugs Manufacturing Facilities" at NIHFW, New Delhi, and received certification. During his stint in Vizag, he also presented best practices in Drug Control Administration in Andhra Pradesh to the Parliamentary Sub Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers on a study tour. He also assisted a team of experts on blockchain technology from Hyderabad on their tour of Visakhapatnam to study QR codes for track-and-trace mechanisms to eradicate spurious drugs.

During his tenure at Visakhapatnam, he received a Certificate of Merit from the Hon'ble Health Minister and Hon'ble District Collector in recognition of his meritorious service rendered with exemplary devotion in discharging duties. He has full professional proficiency in English, Hindi, and Telugu, and working proficiency in several other Indian languages acquired through his extensive professional work travel and study experience at a national institute. He is interested in working towards causes related to public health, poverty alleviation, farm labour, human rights, environment, and animal welfare, and is willing to contribute his time and services by joining a not-for-profit organization to make a meaningful difference in people's lives by leveraging his domain knowledge, skills, and vast experience spanning more than 13 years.