Anthropic IPO: Meet Vas Narasimhan, Indian origin director on its board

Meet Vas Narasimhan, Novartis CEO and Anthropic board director, as its IPO filing details his role, AI-health expertise and pay. Read more.

Narasimhan was appointed by Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust, an independent body responsible for ensuring that the company's governance remains aligned with its public benefit mission. According to Anthropic, members of the Trust have no financial stake in the company.

The Trust is intended to ensure that Anthropic balances its financial interests with its stated mission of developing AI for the long-term benefit of humanity. With Narasimhan's appointment, Trust-appointed directors gained a majority on the board. Anthropic's board includes CEO Dario Amodei, President Daniela Amodei, Yasmin Razavi, Reed Hastings, Chris Liddell and Narasimhan.

Who is Vas Narasimhan?

Vas Narasimhan is a physician and pharmaceutical executive who has served as CEO of Novartis since February 2018. He is the first pharmaceutical industry executive to join Anthropic's board, according to Reuters.

He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1976, Narasimhan is the son of Indian immigrants. His father was a chemist and his mother was a nuclear scientist. In an interview with the BBC, he called himself as a shy and academically inclined child. "I was relatively shy and reserved, and very, very studious," he said.

He studied biological sciences at the University of Chicago before earning a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

During his academic years, Narasimhan worked on public health programmes in countries including Gambia, Peru and India. His work focused on diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, as well as child poverty. After completing his medical degree in 2003, he joined the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for a year. He then spent two years at management consulting firm McKinsey before joining Novartis in 2005.

How did he become CEO of Novartis?

At Novartis, Narasimhan held several senior positions, including Global Head of Development for Novartis Vaccines, Global Head of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer. He was appointed CEO in 2018, at the age of 41. Recalling the appointment in an interview with the BBC, he said, "It didn't seem plausible, at the time I was only 40."

His responsibilities at Novartis included overseeing drug development and expanding the company's focus on areas such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and rare genetic disorders. He also pushed for greater use of data science and technology in drug discovery and development.

Novartis operates in around 120 countries and said it reached more than 300 million patients in 2025. Narasimhan chaired the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in 2023 and 2024. TIME also included him in its 2025 list of the 100 Most Influential People in Health.

Why is his experience relevant to Anthropic?

Anthropic has been expanding its work in healthcare, biology and drug discovery. The company has launched Claude Science, set up a molecular biology laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area and acquired biotechnology startup Coefficient Bio for $400 million in stock in April 2026.

It has also been hiring scientists, including chemists and biologists, to expand its research capabilities.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has previously identified biology as an important potential application of AI. In his 2024 essay, Machines of Loving Grace, he discussed how AI could accelerate medical research and help develop treatments for diseases, including cancer.

However, translating AI-assisted research into medicines involves clinical trials and regulatory approvals. Narasimhan's experience overseeing the development and approval of medicines at Novartis is relevant to this area.

When Anthropic announced his appointment in April, co-founder and President Daniela Amodei said he had overseen the development and approval of more than 35 medicines.

"Vas brings something rare to our board. He's overseen the development and approval of more than 35 novel medicines for the benefit of patients around the world in one of the most regulated industries," she said.

How much will Narasimhan earn from his Anthropic board position?

Anthropic's IPO prospectus also discloses the compensation structure for its non-employee directors.

Narasimhan received no director compensation in 2025. He joined the board in April 2026, and the company did not have a formal compensation policy for non-employee directors at the time.

In September 2026, Anthropic adopted a new policy that provides for annual cash compensation of $100,000 for board service and restricted stock units (RSUs) worth $325,000. The annual stock award programme will begin in 2027.

Narasimhan also chairs the company's compensation committee, for which the policy provides an additional annual cash payment of $30,000.

His stated annual compensation could therefore amount to $455,000, comprising $100,000 in board fees, $30,000 as compensation committee chair and $325,000 in stock awards. The stock component is an equity award, not cash paid directly to him. Its eventual value will depend on the shares and applicable vesting conditions.