Rajesh Vedanthan, MD, MPH

My academic and professional journey has consistently been an exploration of how to bring together different academic disciplines to improve understanding of human behavior, our interactions with each other, our interactions with the planet, and implications for global health. After completing a double-major in economics and chemistry at Swarthmore College, I was fortunate to be selected as a Marshall Scholar and studied Human Sciences at the University of Oxford. For my thesis, I combined genetics, evolutionary biology, demography, urban geography, sociology, and anthropology to develop a cohesive understanding of women’s health-seeking behavior in southern India. For medical school, I enrolled in the University of California-Berkeley/San Francisco Joint Medical Program, during which time I synthesized perspectives and insights from epidemiology, clinical medicine, critical theory, gender studies, and medical anthropology to examine the relationship between domestic violence and HIV risk in southern India.

Currently, I am a physician-scientist who is internationally recognized for my contributions to improving global cardiovascular health and health equity. My research is purposely transdisciplinary—while my main fields of expertise are clinical cardiology, epidemiology, and implementation research, I have consciously and purposefully pursued a research agenda that combines insights and approaches from a diversity of academic disciplines, including anthropology, economics, network analysis, systems science, syndemic analysis, environmental health, climate science, operations research, design thinking, and data science.

I have been continuously supported by NIH grants for over a decade and have established a global cardiovascular health implementation research portfolio to develop, test, and evaluate innovative solutions to address implementation gaps in delivering evidence-based care in several parts of the world. Our implementation approaches have combined innovations in health workforce strategies, health information technology, and directly addressing social determinants of health such as poverty. 

In addition to my research and clinical activities, I am deeply committed to capacity building in both the clinical and research arenas. Over the past decade, I have mentored several dozen trainees, leading to several abstracts, publications, and research awards. 

I have been recognized for this work by several domestic and international organizations, including the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, and the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases. I am an editorial board member of several cardiovascular and global health journals.