Dr Sharmila Bakshi is the Founder of Personalize My Medicine. She has a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Oxford, an MSc in Molecular Genetics from the University of Leicester, a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Kent at Canterbury, and a GDL (Graduate Diploma in Law) from BPP Law School, London.

For her PhD studies on the molecular genetics of Neisseria meningitidis, a bacterium that can cause meningitis and septicaemia, Sharmila studied a set of seven genes of the bacterium and investigated the protein encoded by one of these genes as a potential vaccine candidate.

Following her PhD, Sharmila took up a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship at Sanofipasteur in Lyon, France, where she carried out a research project to analyze the genomes of a set of Neisseria meningitidis strains using DNA microarrays.

Sharmila next travelled to Vienna, Austria, to take up a position as a Scientist at the biotechnology company, Intercell (now Valneva), where she was the project leader of several different vaccine projects within the Molecular Microbiology department. She next returned to London, to take up the position of Project Manager of the Malaria Vectored Vaccines Consortium (MVVC), a consortium of eight partners including the University of Oxford and four academic institutions at sites in East and West Africa. The aim of the project was to trial a malaria vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford.

Sharmila has also worked as a consultant to biotechnology companies. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, writing, and being in nature.