Hemant K. Misra

Dr. Hemant Misra, 65, of Shrewsbury passed away peacefully on January 15, 2020 at UMass Memorial Medical Center with his family by his side. He was the beloved son of Prem Narayan (deceased) and Rajeshwari Misra and brother of Madhulika Awasthi and Sadhna Tiwari of Lucknow, India.

Born in Lucknow, India on August 2, 1954 Hemant spent his younger life studying Chemistry and received his doctorate degree in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Lucknow University. In 1980, he met and married the love of his life, Kumudini Misra, with whom he spent 39 loving years. In 1981 they enjoyed the birth of their first daughter, Ruchika, while he was a research fellow at the University of Tokushima in Japan. In 1983 they welcomed their second daughter, Vidhi, when he started doing his postdoctoral work at University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Their youngest daughter, Priya Misra, was born in 1990 in Shrewsbury while he was working as a researcher at UMass Memorial in Worcester.

Hemant worked as a Senior Director at Karyopharm in Newton, MA. Previous to that he was the Vice-President of Manufacturing and Facilities Operations at Prolong Pharmaceuticals in New Jersey. He developed multiple antibodies and small molecules from R&D to various stages of clinical development and some of them were licensed to other firms at advanced stages of clinical development. He published well over 50 papers and received one patent.

Working on clinical trials with patients offered Hemant the opportunity to travel and, as a result, he was able to visit countries all around the world. He loved drinking good merlot, watching ‘Breaking Bad’ on TV, and was especially proud when he became a grandfather for the first time to Vara Laxmi Pandey on May 22, 2017. Being a “nana” (maternal grandfather) was the highlight of his life and his face always lit up whenever he had his granddaughter in his arms.

A funeral service is being held at 10am on Saturday (1/18/20) at Rural Cemetery and Crematory (180 Grove Street in Worcester) and friends/family are welcome to attend. In lieu of flowers, Hemant’s family is asking for people to donate to The American Heart Association in his memory.