Late Dr. Mrs. Umayal Ramanathan

Born in 1928, she did her schooling at C.S.I Ewart School in Madras. Docile and soft spoken, she showed great interest in fine arts like dance and was particularly fond of Geography as a subject. She has been a syndicate member of Coimbatore Agricultural University and a senate member of the Madurai Kamaraj University. Currently she is the managing trustee of the Alagappa Charitable Trust. She was a member of the Social Welfare Board of Ramnad District and the Chairperson of Gangadeeswarar Temple. People fondly recollect her giving away in charity to the poor and partaking in the inter-caste meals programme. Following the footsteps of her father, she founded two higher secondary schools in his name one at Karaikudi and another in Chennai, besides running a Montessori school, and a music school at Karaikudi.

Dr. Mr. Ramanathan Vairavan

Dr. Ramanathan Vairavan, an entrepreneur and educationalist is the grandson of the late Philanthropist Dr. RM. Alagappa Chettiar. With more than 40 years’ experience in the health care industry, his experience working in executive management for the multinational German company Hoechst AG in the US, Germany & Singapore provided him a wealth of experience in various facets of the industry. This led him to be a co-founder of a biotechnology company based in Carlsbad, CA, that used novel biofilm chip technology to perform disease signatures through genomic and proteomic profiling with tests in genetic disorders, and oncology. Initially planned for an IPO the attractive technology garnered significant interests from healthcare firms and was sold. His focus now is with DiaCarta, a molecular diagnostics company that has developed a revolutionary approach to transform care for patients undergoing chemo and radiation therapy by providing effective precision diagnostics, mitigate adverse events and enhance patient care.

As the Chairman/ Secretary of the Dr. Alagappa Chettiar Educational Trust in Karaikudi and the Asoka Charitable Trust in Chennai, he manages over 8000 students in primary, secondary, and collegiate education. He has been actively involved in enhancing the quality of education and the infrastructure of the schools, both in Chennai and Karaikudi.

As students of Bharatanatyam, spend considerable time to learn and perform their Arangetram and are not rewarded with a degree for their years of learning, he pioneered in designing a first of its kind novel academic curriculum in 2005 to preserve the repertoire of Tamil culture that is embedded in the dance and founded Alagappa Performing Arts Academy by collaborating with leading artistes and Alagappa University. Today more than 35 dance centers offer this program in the US. The Academy boasts of almost 1000 enrolled students who get college credit from US Universities for enrolling in the program.

He established several institutions, including Alagappa Institute of Information Technology in Chennai (1999), Alagappa Foundation Inc. California, USA (2001), Alagappa Performing Arts Academy, Dance Program (2005), Alagappa Performing Arts Academy, Music Program (2008), Alagappa Performing Arts Academy, Vasthu Science (2012), Alagappa Academy (CBSE Program), Karaikudi (2014), Alagappa Girls School, Karaikudi (2015), the only all-girls school in Karaikudi, and the Alagappa College of Nursing (2018) Plans are underway to set up an Ayurvedic College in Karaikudi. and a defined mission to build a Medical College in Karaikudi.

He obtained a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from AC Tech in Madras, an MS degree in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University, St. Louis, and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He was awarded a doctorate degree by Alagappa University, Tamil Nadu, India in 2018

Awards and Honors

• Syndicate Member, Alagappa University
• Distinguished Alumni Awardee 2019 – AC Tech, Anna University
• President, Tamil Isai Sangam, Karaikudi