New Delhi, Aug. 17 -- Healthcare technology services company CitiusTech has elevated Dhaval Shah to acting chief executive officer and appointed Shyam Karunakaran as president, effective immediately, as the company looks to expand its healthcare-focused artificial intelligence offerings.
Shah was previously chief business officer for CitiusTech's medical technology and life sciences businesses. Karunakaran, who headed the company's healthcare payer and platforms businesses as chief business officer, will now oversee enterprise strategy, markets, growth and execution.
The appointments follow chief executive Rajan Kohli's decision to leave CitiusTech by the end of August 2026 to pursue other opportunities. The company said the transition was part of a succession plan already in place.
Shah and Karunakaran were among CitiusTech's early employees and together headed businesses accounting for more than 80% of the company's operations, according to the company.
"Dhaval and Shyam have been integral to that journey," said William Winkenwerder Jr., chairman of CitiusTech. "Their deep understanding of our clients, people and industry, combined with their track record of building and scaling businesses, positions them strongly to lead CitiusTech through its next phase of growth."
Focus on healthcare AI
Shah has spent more than 19 years at CitiusTech and has held several leadership positions during that period. He helped build the company's medical technology and life sciences operations and was most recently responsible for those two industry segments.
As acting CEO, Shah will lead CitiusTech as it seeks to scale AI-led services for healthcare and life sciences companies.
"Our focus now is to make intelligence an integral part of how healthcare organisations operate, make decisions and deliver outcomes," Shah said. "We will build on this foundation to establish CitiusTech as a leader in healthcare AI services."
Karunakaran has worked at the company for 17 years and helped develop its healthcare payer and technology platform businesses. In his expanded role, he will work across the broader organisation rather than oversee an individual business segment.
"The healthcare industry stack is being rebuilt around AI, and CitiusTech is positioned across three layers-the engineering layer, the intelligence layer and the agentic layer," Karunakaran said.
Mumbai-headquartered CitiusTech provides digital engineering, data, analytics and AI services to healthcare and life sciences organisations. The company said it recorded strong growth during FY26 and has maintained its business momentum in the current financial year, although it did not disclose revenue or growth figures.
It is now looking to scale healthcare-specific AI offerings as clients increase their adoption of automation and generative and agentic AI across clinical, operational and administrative processes.
Kohli joined CitiusTech as CEO in 2023 after a nearly three-decade career at Wipro. During his tenure, the company expanded its partnerships and investments in healthcare AI and positioned itself as a specialist technology provider to the sector.
"Together, we forged strategic partnerships across the healthcare ecosystem, elevated client trust and built a strong foundation in AI," Kohli said.
CitiusTech did not indicate whether it would conduct a search for a permanent chief executive or provide a timeline for confirming the CEO position.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.