Ramanan Laxminarayan is a BITS Pilani alumnus who is an economist and an epidemiologist. He is director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy in Washington and a senior research scholar at Princeton.  The BITS & Pieces crew had the rare opportunity to sit down with Mr. Laxminarayan at an event at BITS-Pilani Goa, and he graciously agreed to be a guest on the podcast.  In this episode, we discuss his work, new technologies in the diagnostics and genetics fields, his startup, HealthCube, and the difference between the American and Indian higher education systems.  Find out about all our guests and future events on our new website now! www.bitsandpiecespodcast.com  A Noah Martins Production (www.instagram.com/noahfromgoa)  Intro Music by Skeletron (www.instagram.com/skeletron_music)  BITS & Pieces is a college podcast run by Noah Martins and his friends, who are engineering students at BITS-Pilani Goa. They interview entrepreneurs, business people, celebrities and academics, and try to answer the pressing question of what makes these outliers special. Why are these people exceptions? Subscribe to the channel and check out our content to find out!  Phanindra Sama, Founder of RedBus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfysO445vQM&t=3s  Harish Bhat, Tata Sons Brand Custodian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj3fCQjT0Fg  Urooj Ashfaq, Stand up comedian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXReuKV5qE