With over 27 years of experience across mature and emerging markets, Urhekar has been a trailblazer in healthcare communications

Avalere Health has appointed Amar Urhekar as its new Chief Executive Officer. The announcement comes through after 18 months of Urhekar’s association with Avalere Health when he joined the US office in 2023 as Chief Operations Officer (COO). As the company CEO, he will be responsible for the overall leadership of Avalere Health—organised across three core capabilities: Advisory, Medical, and Marketing.

With over 27 years of experience across mature and emerging markets, Urhekar has been a trailblazer in healthcare communications, pioneering the formalisation and conceptualisation of the industry in India and other emerging markets. Starting with McCann Health India in 2000, when healthcare advertising was almost non-existent compared to B2C campaigns, he became the first Indian to articulate a visionary framework for elevating healthcare communications in India to global standards.

Urhekar expanded operations across the Asia Pacific, overcoming challenges like SARS and Japan's 2011 disasters to build award-winning networks. In the Americas, he transformed fragmented agencies into a unified powerhouse, making McCann Health a globally awarded leader. Prior to joining Avalere, Amar was associated with Ashfield Health and Evoke where he continued to innovate, integrating capabilities, building agile solutions, and creating lasting value in healthcare marketing.

Expressing his excitement for the role, Urhekar, CEO, Avalere Health, said, "Avalere Health is ready to achieve its true potential. I look forward to partnering with our teams to create further an inspiring company that will amplify the patient voice like never before."

"I am pleased to appoint Urhekar as our next CEO," said Deborah Keller, Chairperson, Avalere Health. "Urhekar has a passion for purpose-driven organisations that can truly make a difference. He inspires colleagues and clients alike and his extraordinary breadth of health industry knowledge ensures that our business is in the best of hands moving forward."

Urhekar replaces former CEO, Jon Koch, as part of a planned succession. Urhekar will continue to build on the strong foundation built by Jon over the last three and half years. Jon will be a strategic advisor to our Board until the end of March 2025.