Connecting Rare Disease Patients in India and the United States

Harsha Rajasimha was a post-doctoral researcher at the National Institutes of Health when he lost a newborn child to a rare disease. As he entered the world of patient advocacy, he connected with rare disease patients in his homeland of India. Discussions he had there led him to co-found the Organization for Rare Diseases India and the Organization for Rare Diseases India, USA; an effort to bridge the gulf between rare disease patients in the two countries. We spoke to Rajasimha about the rare disease landscape in India, the opportunities for India to drive development of new therapies for rare disease, and what his organizations are doing to foster cooperation between rare disease patients in India and the United States.