Biotechnology leader Dinesh V Patel and his wife, Rajeshvari Patel, have created a graduate fellowship at Rutgers University to advance research and training in organic chemistry.
The Dinesh and Rajeshvari Patel Endowed Graduate Fellowship will support students in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rutgers’ School of Arts and Sciences. Its the same institution where Dinesh Patel earned his PhD in chemistry in 1984 and Rajeshvari completed her master’s degree in 1985. The fellowship is designated for the laboratory of Professor Spencer Knapp, Patel’s doctoral advisor and one of the longest-serving members of the university’s chemistry faculty.
Honouring a training ground
The Patels chose to focus their endowment on Knapp’s laboratory in recognition of the formative role it played in shaping their scientific careers. “We can never forget the extent to which we benefited from the support we received at Rutgers,” Dinesh said. “It will be so satisfying to see future students benefit in the same way.”
Lawrence Williams, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, noted that the couple regard their professional achievements as closely tied to the mentorship and academic environment they experienced at Rutgers.
Dineshl has always given importance of building teams deliberately and investing in human capital. In the biotechnology sector, he has argued that sustained success depends on the ability to replicate results and build durable platforms. That discipline, he suggests, is cultivated during graduate training, where scientific understanding improves through persistence, experimentation, and the ability to learn from failure.
By anchoring the fellowship within Knapp’s lab, the Patels are reinforcing a research ecosystem that has trained generations of chemists. Their contribution strengthens a setting where early-stage ideas are examined, refined, and translated into practical applications long before they reach clinical development or commercial scale.
From boardroom to laboratory
Over nearly four decades, Dinesh V Patel has built a career in drug discovery and biotechnology leadership. His professional journey spans roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Affymax, Vicuron Pharmaceuticals which was acquired by Pfizer for $1.9 billion, Miikana Therapeutics, and Arête Therapeutics. Since 2008, he has served as President and CEO of Protagonist Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel oral peptide therapies for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Dinesh V Patel
Throughout market expansions and downturns, Patel has maintained a consistent view that organizations often falter not because innovation fails, but because financial resources are mismanaged or depleted. That emphasis on foresight and sustainability now informs his philanthropic approach to graduate education. By establishing the fellowship, the Patels are directing support to the earliest stage of the scientific pipeline.
Rajeshvari Patel has emphasized that the fellowship is intended to ease financial burdens on graduate students, enabling them to concentrate on research and professional development without the distraction of funding uncertainty.
Extending the mission
Dinesh V Patel has often spoken about aligning leadership with a broader purpose of advancing therapies for patients with significant unmet medical needs. The fellowship extends that mission to the academic sphere. Before treatments reach patients or companies bring drugs to market, discoveries begin with graduate researchers exploring molecular pathways at the laboratory bench.
In both biotechnology and academia, sustained progress depends on stability and foresight. Through this fellowship, the Patels are investing in the continuity of scientific training, ensuring that emerging chemists have the resources and time necessary to pursue discovery.
