Dr. Ashok Bhandari Executive Vice President and Chief Drug Discovery Officer Dr. Ashok Bhandari has been serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Drug Discovery Officer at Protagonist Therapeutics since January 2022. Previously, he held leadership positions as Senior Vice President and Vice President of Chemistry and Process Research from 2017 to 2021. Joining Protagonist in 2011, Dr. Bhandari has played a crucial role in the discovery and advancement of novel oral and systemic peptide therapeutics, making significant contributions to the development of Protagonist’s clinical pipeline. Before joining Protagonist, Dr. Bhandari spent 14 years at Affymax, where he participated in various peptide drug discovery and development programs focused on targeting protein-protein interactions. He earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and completed his postdoctoral research at the University of California, Santa Barbara.