Gadiparthi N. Rao, PhD, professor of Physiology at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, was recently awarded his fourth National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant.
Gadiparthi N. Rao, PhD, professor of Physiology at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), was recently awarded his fourth National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant. The four grants, totaling more than $5 million, mark a rare achievement.
“Under normal funding conditions, maintaining two NIH RO1 grants is considered a mark of success. Given today’s extremely difficult funding environment, for a single investigator to hold four RO1s simultaneously is exceptional, to say the least,” said Leonard R. Johnson, PhD, vice chancellor for Research. The Research Project (RO1) grant is an award made to support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project based on the mission of the NIH.
Dr. Rao received his doctorate degree in life sciences at Gujarat University in India. Entering his eighth year at UTHSC, his research focuses on cardiovascular complications common after angioplasty — a problem prevalent in western countries. “We are particularly interested in arteriosclerosis and the mechanisms responsible for clogging of vessel walls,” Dr. Rao explained. All four grants focus on unique methods for attacking different aspects of cardiovascular problems.
Active professionally, Dr. Rao is a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Physiological Society, and the American Heart Association.