Raman Venkataramanan, PhD

Dr. Raman Venkataramanan is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition, he is the Director of the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory and the Associate Director of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Toxicology. Dr. Venkataramanan is also a Member of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplant Institute and the Magee Women’s Research Institute and a Professor in the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Pitt’s Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics.

Prior to arriving at the University, Dr. Venkataramanan received his PhD from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, in 1979. Currently, Dr. Venkataramanan remains an active faculty member while pursuing both clinical and research interests at Pitt. His efforts have won him many awards, most recently the University of Pittsburgh Rho Chi Society Award – Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award (March 2007), the University of Pittsburgh Rho Chi Society Award – Innovations in Teaching Award (March 2009), the University of Pittsburgh Provost’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring (2009), the ACCP-BMS Award for Mentoring in Clinical Pharmacology (2009), and the APhA Tyler Award for Stimulation of Research (March 2011). Dr. Venkataramanan is the current Editor of the American Journal of Analytical Chemistry. He also serves as an Editorial Board Member forTherapeutic Drug Monitoring and the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Clinically, Dr. Venkataramanan has taken an interest in drug therapy in transplant patients as well as immunosuppression and infection in transplant patients. Additionally, he is the author/co-author of many publications for his participation in a variety of research projects. Primarily, his research focuses on the effects of various medications used to treat transplant patients. Currently, he is actively engaged in projects concerning:

  • Drug disposition in liver, renal, cardiac and bone marrow transplant patients
  • Evaluation of the functional capacity of kidney in liver and kidney transplant patients
  • Evaluation of functional capacity of liver in donor and recipient in living donor liver transplantation – hepatic regeneration
  • In vivo/in vitro correlation of hepatic drug metabolism – study of isozyme specific markers
  • Herb drug interactions in humans
  • Drug metabolism in pregnancy – evaluation using human hepatocyte cultures
  • Pharmacokinetics of hydroxyl progesterone caproate in pregnant subjects

View a list of Dr. Venkataramanan’s publications here.