I am Saswata Ray, a PRINCE2-certified project management professional with more than a decade of experience spanning clinical research, healthcare, technology, and business transformation. My career has taken me across diverse industries and disciplines, but at the heart of everything I do lies a passion for solving complex problems, improving people’s experiences, and turning ideas into meaningful outcomes.
My PhD in Health Informatics from the University of Auckland opened the door to the rapidly evolving world of digital health, where healthcare, technology, data, and innovation intersect. Since then, I have worked at the intersection of people, process, and technology, helping organisations navigate change and deliver impactful initiatives.
Beyond my professional life, I am a writer, lyricist, and lifelong learner. I am fascinated by stories – whether they are told through projects, books, songs, or conversations. This website brings together those different parts of my journey: my professional work, my writing, my music, and the ideas that continue to inspire me.
Whether you are here to explore a potential collaboration, learn more about my work, read my writing, or listen to my songs, I am delighted you stopped by.
A Curious Beginning
I grew up in Kolkata, India – a city that taught me two things early in life: how to dream and how to observe. I was fortunate to be raised in a family that valued education, hard work, and humility, but perhaps the greatest gift they gave me was the freedom to ask questions.
Why does something work the way it does? Why do people behave differently when presented with the same information? Why do some ideas change lives while others disappear?
Those questions never really left me.
As I grew older, I realised that curiosity alone was not enough. Ideas are important, but ideas that solve real problems are even more powerful. Somewhere along the way, curiosity became paired with practicality. I became someone who enjoys understanding complexity, but also someone who wants to find a way forward.
That combination has shaped almost every major decision I have made in life. Whether in science, healthcare, technology, writing, or music, I have always been drawn to the same challenge: understanding things deeply and then helping make them better.
Leaving the Known Behind
For eight years, I built a successful career in India, working across multiple cities and growing within the world of clinical research. By most measures, life was stable. Predictable. Comfortable.
And yet, something kept pulling at me.
In 2017, I made a decision that surprised many people around me. I left behind a settled life in Mumbai and moved to Auckland, New Zealand, to pursue a PhD in Health Informatics at the University of Auckland.
The decision was not driven by necessity. It was driven by possibility.
I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to contribute something original to the world. I wanted to explore the intersection of technology, health, and human behaviour. My doctoral research eventually became the first national study in New Zealand examining how social media influences food decision-making among young adults.
It was not the easiest path. I completed my PhD while working almost full-time, often balancing competing priorities and long days. But some journeys are valuable precisely because they demand something from us.
Looking back, that decision changed far more than my career. It changed how I see the world, and, as I say to my friends, my Version 2.0 was released in the process.
Building Bridges Between Worlds
One theme has recurred throughout my life: building bridges between disciplines that do not always speak to one another.
My professional foundation lies in clinical research, where I have worked across all four major domains of the field, supporting projects for the top 5 pharma organisations. Over time, my work expanded into project management, digital health, healthcare transformation, and technology delivery.
While completing my PhD, I also pursued PRINCE2 certification because I have always believed that ideas matter most when they can be translated into action.
Today, I work at the intersection of healthcare, technology, research, and delivery. I enjoy bringing structure to ambiguity, helping teams solve problems, and turning complex challenges into practical outcomes.
I am fascinated by innovation, but I am equally interested in execution. Great ideas are exciting. Delivering them is what creates impact.
That balance between curiosity and pragmatism continues to guide the way I work.
Where Words Become Music
Long before I became a project manager, researcher, or author, I fell in love with rhythm.
I played percussion during my school years, and music has remained a constant companion ever since. It is difficult to explain exactly what music means to me because it occupies a different place from work or achievement. It is something closer to gratitude, reflection, and connection.
Later came poetry. Then theatre. Then songwriting.
Today, I write and release music under the name Rayhousse, with songs across Bengali, Hindi, and English. Some songs emerge from experiences. Others emerge from questions. A few arrive unexpectedly and refuse to leave until they are written down.
I have always been fascinated by language and the way words can create meaning. Two ordinary words placed side by side can suddenly become something neither was before. That small act of creation still feels magical to me.
I have never really seen these pursuits as separate. The same curiosity that drew me towards research continues to find its way into writing, music, and the questions I still enjoy asking.
The Unexpected Chapter
For more than fourteen years, I worked continuously without interruption.
Then, for the first time, I lost my job.
Like many people who experience redundancy, I did not see it coming. What followed was a period of uncertainty, self-reflection, frustration, growth, and eventually renewal.
It was one of the most challenging periods of my life, but also one of the most illuminating.
As I navigated that experience, I found myself documenting the journey. Not because I thought my story was unique, but because I suspected it was not. Millions of professionals around the world quietly experience career disruption, often carrying the emotional weight of it alone.
That experience became the foundation for my memoir, And Then I Lost My Job: From Redundancy to Renewal.
The book is not simply about losing a job. It is about identity, resilience, reinvention, and finding meaning in unexpected places. It’s a playbook where I have explored CVs, Cover letters, the Impact of AI in modern-day job applications, the Nuances of Networking, Dealing with Interview rejections, and more. Most importantly, it is about discovering that some endings are actually beginnings in disguise.
Still Curious
If there is a single thread connecting everything I have done, it is curiosity.
Curiosity led me from Kolkata to Mumbai and eventually to Auckland.
Curiosity led me from clinical research to digital health.
Curiosity led me to a PhD, to project management, to writing, and to music.
And curiosity continues to lead me today.
I do not know exactly where the next chapter will take me. What I do know is that I remain fascinated by ideas, motivated by meaningful work, and energised by opportunities to solve problems alongside good people. It’s just one life! YOLO!
If you are looking for someone who combines scientific rigour with creativity, structured thinking with empathy, and curiosity with a practical focus on outcomes, I would love to connect.
After all, some beautiful paths cannot be discovered without getting lost.
