Sunil Karnawat, Ph.D.

Vice President, Global Value, Access & Distribution (GVAD)

Sunil Karnawat joined us as the Vice President of Global Value, Access, and Distribution (GVAD) in June 2024.   

Before joining Cytokinetics, Sunil worked in the life sciences industry for nearly 25 years, leading various commercial functions, including marketing, sales management, market access, analytics, global operations, health economics, and government affairs.  Sunil has launched products in various disease states, including diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, and rare bone and metabolic diseases. 

Sunil started his career at Deloitte Consulting, working on global operations at Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson. At Novo Nordisk, Sunil led analytics and operations teams to support US sales and payer field teams. At Vivus Pharmaceuticals and Myriad Genetics, Sunil was responsible for building and leading the broad market access functions.  

In his roles at Ultragenyx, Sunil globally launched four rare disease products. He led the payer-value efforts that secured access and reimbursement in the US. While leading US marketing and sales management, he elevated the flagship brand, Crysvita, to a blockbuster status and led GVAD that launched products through affiliates and distributors. 

Sunil’s education includes an MBA in Operations from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, a second MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Structural Engineering from North Dakota State University, and a B.E. in Civil Engineering from the College of Engineering in Pune, India.  

Sunil is an avid tennis player. He lives in the Bay Area.