About Synthesis Consulting Group
Where science and technology meet
Who we are
Synthesis Consulting Group was founded in 2006 on a simple observation: the best outcomes in biopharma happen when technology people truly understand the science, and science people are genuinely supported by their technology. We are technologists and scientists working together to blur the boundaries between the two.
We specialize in technology strategy and delivery for biopharmaceutical R&D. Our roots run from the genomics boom — building bioinformatics and high-throughput analysis systems — through regulatory submissions platforms, R&D portfolio management, and enterprise IT strategy at organizations like AstraZeneca and MedImmune. That means we’re equally comfortable in a discussion about research priorities and pipeline strategy as we are in a systems architecture or regulatory-platform review, and we believe the most valuable consulting happens exactly at that intersection.
Our expertise runs deepest in R&D for biopharmaceutical organizations — from emerging biotech startups to global pharma — but our fundamentals travel well: disciplined strategy, honest analysis, and delivery that sticks. We support clients who share one thing in common: technology decisions that genuinely matter to the science.
Our approach
Align
We start with the business, not the technology. What are the immediate issues that need solving? Where do you see the organization in three to five years? Short- and long-term plans are reviewed before any technology is brought to bear.
Ready
With clear business alignment, we stage implementations deliberately — and just as importantly, we assess your team’s capacity for change. Are they ready? When will they be? Technology only delivers when people can absorb it.
Deliver
Set up for success, we focus on the right tools and the right implementation approach, keeping every workstream pointed at the business value it was chartered to deliver.
Evolve
Deployment isn’t the finish line. We ensure the value of every platform is maintained after go-live and that capabilities continue to evolve in support of near- and long-term R&D goals.
Why partner with Synthesis
- Science-literate technologists. We speak both languages fluently, so nothing gets lost in translation between the lab and IT.
- R&D lifecycle experience. From discovery through development, we’ve delivered solutions across the research value chain.
- Fit-for-purpose thinking. We recommend what your organization actually needs — not what’s fashionable, and never more than the problem requires.
- Change-aware delivery. We pace implementation to your team’s real capacity for change, because a perfect system nobody adopts is a failed project.
- Value beyond go-live. We measure success by the business value a solution sustains, not the date it ships.
- Regulated-environment fluency. With a background leading regulatory submission systems and R&D information platforms, we understand GxP expectations and the systems common in regulated biopharma — and we design solutions that respect compliance from day one.
- Full-lifecycle credibility. From bench-adjacent bioinformatics to enterprise IT strategy, we’ve worked the entire span — so we can talk to your scientists, your IT architects, and your leadership in their own terms.
People
Synthesis Consulting Group is led by Ram Gupta, who has spent nearly three decades at the intersection of biotechnology and information technology — from writing bioinformatics software at the dawn of the genomics era to directing enterprise R&D IT strategy for global pharmaceutical organizations.
Ram founded Synthesis in 2006 to do one thing well: deliver end-to-end technology roadmaps, program leadership, and business analysis for biopharma R&D. Over that time he has partnered with industry leaders — including AstraZeneca and MedImmune — and with emerging biotechnology startups, aligning IT infrastructure with the complex realities of scientific work.
His background is unusually complete for this field. He began as a bioinformatics software engineer and project manager at Human Genome Sciences during the genomics boom — designing high-throughput analysis systems and electronic document management for drug discovery. He went on to lead research systems at ATCC, regulatory and R&D information systems at MedImmune, and business analysis and portfolio management for R&D at AstraZeneca. Along the way he served nine years as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University, teaching computing for bioinformatics.
That trajectory — bench-adjacent science, hands-on software, regulatory systems, and enterprise IT strategy — is why clients describe him as fluent in both the science and the systems, and rare for it. He holds an MS in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins and a BS in Honors Biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
Principles
Three beliefs shape how we work. First, technology serves the science — every recommendation must trace back to a research or business outcome. Second, honesty beats optimism — we’d rather surface a hard truth early than manage a surprise later. Third, our job is to make ourselves unnecessary — we build capability in your teams so improvements outlast the engagement.
If the fit is right
We take on engagements selectively — where the problem is consequential and the experience is genuinely useful. If that describes what you’re working on, we’d like to hear about it.