VOLUNTEER ADVISORY PANEL

Dr. Niranjan Hiremath
Senior Consultant Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeon
Specialist in Complex Cardiac Surgery, Aortic Surgery & TAVI
Surgical Lead, Apollo Aortic Program

Dr. Niranjan is deeply committed to advancing awareness and care for patients living with aortic disease. He believes every patient deserves timely treatment, education, and support for a successful recovery. Despite the demands of his surgical practice, he actively contributes to patient education and advocacy initiatives, helping raise awareness about aortic disease a cause that remains close to his heart.

Parul Minhas Sharif

Is a senior management professional with a leading consulting firm and a dedicated caregiver who supported her husband through his aortic disease journey and recovery. Balancing the demands of a high-pressure career with the emotional and practical realities of caregiving, she remained a constant source of strength, compassion, and reassurance throughout his treatment and recovery.

Through her lived experience, Parul understands the challenges faced by both patients and caregivers. Her perspective highlights the critical role that family support, resilience, and compassionate care play in successful recovery, helping ensure that caregiver voices remain central to the Alliance's mission of improving patient outcomes and advancing family-centered care.

Dr. Ayesha Jairaj

With experience in emergency and critical care, evidence based medicine, and patient centered communication, she has a strong ability to translate complex medical information into clear, practical, and accessible guidance. Her strengths lie in clinical judgment, preventive healthcare, patient counselling, and ensuring that health information is both medically accurate and easy for patients, caregivers, and the public to understand.

Dr. Ayehsa will provide expert oversight of clinical content, patient education materials, and awareness campaigns across our digital and social media platforms, ensuring information is medically accurate, evidence based, and easy for patients, caregivers, and the public to understand.

Michael George 

 Founder and CEO of Sagesse Healthcare Consulting and an internationally recognized healthcare communications leader with over 35 years of experience. He specializes in strategic communications, public relations, patient engagement, and transforming authentic patient experiences into compelling stories that educate, inspire, and drive meaningful change.

As an Advisor to the Appletree Health Foundation, Michael mentors the Foundation in developing impactful patient interviews, patient storytelling initiatives, and strategic communication programmes that place the patient voice at the centre of every conversation. His guidance will help strengthen stakeholder engagement, build trusted partnerships, elevate the Foundation's public profile, and create meaningful awareness campaigns that advance patient advocacy and improve understanding of aortic and heart valve diseases across India.