Dr. Sivabalan Sivanesan is a senior pharmaceutical and medical-affairs leader who currently serves as Chief Medical Officer at Roche India. He brings more than two decades of healthcare experience spanning clinical medicine, medical affairs, regulatory leadership and patient access across Asia-Pacific. His career reflects a sustained focus on translating scientific and clinical advances into meaningful patient outcomes, with experience across a remarkably broad range of therapeutic areas. Roche’s India leadership profile identifies him as Chief Medical Officer and provides a detailed account of his professional journey.

Dr. Sivanesan began his professional career in clinical medicine with Malaysia’s Ministry of Health, where he spent more than a decade working across primary-care settings, rural hospitals and tertiary-care centres. During this period, he developed focused expertise in Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Family Medicine, gaining first-hand exposure to healthcare delivery across different levels of the health system. This clinical foundation subsequently shaped his transition into pharmaceutical medical affairs, allowing him to bring a physician’s perspective to the development, evaluation and responsible use of innovative medicines.

He moved into the pharmaceutical industry with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where he held medical-affairs responsibilities across Malaysia and Singapore. He subsequently joined Bayer, before beginning his long association with Roche in 2011. At Roche, he has held a series of progressively senior positions, including Medical Director, Malaysia; Regional Medical Leader for Oncology & Haematology, Asia Pacific; and Medical & Regulatory Affairs Director, Singapore. His Singapore responsibilities also included leading the Patient Access function and overseeing Roche’s business in Brunei.

A defining strength of Dr. Sivanesan’s professional profile is the breadth of his therapeutic expertise. His experience encompasses cardiovascular-metabolic diseases, neurology, respiratory medicine, immunology, virology, urology, gynaecology, oncology, haematology, ophthalmology and precision medicine. This breadth has enabled him to work across both established treatment areas and highly specialised fields where advances in diagnostics, personalised medicine and targeted therapies are reshaping patient care.

His leadership philosophy is closely connected to the role of medical science in improving access and outcomes. His progression from frontline clinical medicine into medical affairs, regulatory leadership and patient access illustrates an interest in connecting scientific evidence with the realities of healthcare delivery. At Roche, this is particularly relevant to the company’s focus on innovative medicines, diagnostics and personalised healthcare, where medical leadership must bridge research, physicians, regulators, healthcare systems and patients.

Academically, Dr. Sivanesan holds his medical degree from Manipal University in India. His extensive clinical and pharmaceutical experience across Malaysia, Singapore and the wider Asia-Pacific region has given him a distinctly international perspective on healthcare systems and medical innovation.

As Chief Medical Officer at Roche India, Dr. Sivabalan Sivanesan brings together clinical experience, pharmaceutical medical affairs, regulatory knowledge and patient-access expertise. His professional journey reflects a broader mission of ensuring that advances in medical science are translated responsibly into healthcare solutions that can reach patients and improve outcomes. His experience across multiple therapeutic areas and healthcare systems positions him at the intersection of scientific innovation, clinical evidence, access and patient-centric healthcare