Meet Ramesh Swamy, New IPPF Board Chair

This spotlight was recently featured in the American South Asian Network (ASAN).

When the IPPF named Ramesh Swamy its new Board President, the decision fused professional acumen with lived experience. The Vadakkencherry, Kerala born, Los Angeles-based financier founder of boutique merchant bank Halifax West, was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris a decade ago. That detour from spreadsheets to skin biopsies ignited what Swamy calls his “second startup”: building a support ecosystem for patients who often feel marooned by rarity and misdiagnosis.

Swamy’s résumé reads like a collision of Wall Street and Hollywood. After an early stint in Morgan Stanley’s structured – finance group, he launched Halifax West in 2016, advising middle-market companies on M&A, corporate restructurings, and principal investments most recently in climate-tech and digital-health ventures.

Beyond the balance sheet, Swamy moonlights as an executive producer with London/ Los Angeles studio Anna Barbara Films, backing documentaries that champion underrepresented voices. Board service is a through-line: Legal Aid Foundation of LA, Association for Corporate Growth, and now IPPF. Colleagues describe him as “equal parts spreadsheet and soul.”

Pemphigus vulgaris and related pemphigoid disorders are rare, potentially life-threatening autoimmune diseases that cause painful blisters across skin and mucous membranes. Because incidence hovers around one to five cases per million, diagnosis often drags on for months especially among South Asians, who face a disproportionately higher prevalence. Delays amplify infection risk, scarring, and emotional isolation.

The IPPF steps into that vacuum by pairing patients with trained peer coaches, funding clinician-education webinars, and maintaining a Natural History Registry that scientists mine for treatment clues. Swamy joined the board in 2018; as president he’ll now steer strategy, fundraising, and advocacy.

Read the full article here.