New Leader for Capital Giving at Penn

Roopashree Narasimhaiah, PhD, will be joining Penn as DAR’s Senior Associate Vice President, Capital Giving following an extensive national search that involved nearly a dozen members of the DAR and Penn communities. Roopa emerged as not only the strongest candidate among the finalists, but one who brings a set of skills, values, and experiences that are uniquely suited to this role at this time.

Roopa comes to us from Yale University where she oversees development and alumni affairs for the Yale School of Medicine and is a key member of the University’s Alumni Affairs and Development leadership team. As a strategic senior partner to the Deans of the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), Roopa’s work has resulted in impressive growth in YSM’s fundraising results, increasing fundraising by over 50% and raising nearly a billion dollars during the past five years. Her efforts to translate opportunities in medicine and the sciences into compelling philanthropic priorities has resulted in some of Yale’s largest gifts, including a $100 million cancer research alliance—the largest corporate collaboration in Yale’s history, which enabled a unique multidisciplinary research program. Working collaboratively across the University, Roopa has catalyzed department and university-wide campaign strategies and interdisciplinary giving opportunities. She has worked with a diverse array of donors both nationally and internationally and brings an innovative, data-driven, and solution-focused approach to her work.

Before transitioning to a career in advancement in 2007, Roopa trained as a neuroscientist, receiving her PhD in developmental neurobiology from Wesleyan University and serving for two years as a post-doctoral associate in psychiatry at Yale. Her passion for fundraising grew from her successful pursuit of grants to support her scientific research and her firsthand discovery of the powerful connection between philanthropy and meaningful outcomes in higher education.

Roopa will begin her work with us on November 6th.