Rekha Ramanathan

A current Biomedical Sciences masters graduate, planning to pursue my interest in medicine by becoming a physician assistant. I aim to combine my love for both neuroscience and psychiatry by providing care to patients who suffer from psychoneurological disorders.

Clinical Undergraduate Research

Dr. Steel's Lab, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

08/2022 - Present

Pittsburgh, PA

• Study depression, anxiety and stress in liver cancer patients as well as their caregivers and how they impact the overall health
• Gained both data and clinical skills through developing an intervention for patients and caregivers involving two timelines of therapy that would eventually reduce patients’/caregivers’ symptoms

Research Assistant

St. Hilaire Lab, University of Pittsburgh

09/2021 - 06/2022

Pittsburgh, PA

• Studied the leading causes of calcification in cells present in cardiovascular diseases such as Calcific Aortic Valve Disease, Arterial Calcification due to Deficiency of CD73 and Medial Arterial Calcification
• Assisted with fundamental techniques such as genotyping, qPCR, western blots and IF staining to perform experiments both in vivo and in vitro environments

• Annual Freshman Engineering Conference, Univ. of Pittsburgh, 04/2021, Pittsburgh, PA, The Cardiac-Muscle Patch: Future of Treating Heart Disease
• Ramanathan, R. (2023). Learning Genotyping and Cell Culture Techniques to Perform Experiments to Study Cardiovascular Calcification. Journal of Student Research, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.47611/jsr.v11i3.1649
• Shah K, Geller DA, Tohme S, Antoni M, Kallem CJ, Vodovotz Y, Ramanathan R, Naveen R, Geroni M, Devine L, Amin A, Kiefer GJ, Zandberg DP, Reyes V, Steel JL. Predictors and Consequences of Cancer and Non-Cancer-Related Pain in Those Diagnosed with Primary and Metastatic Cancers. Curr Oncol. 2023 Sep 27;30(10):8826-8840. doi: 10.3390/curroncol30100637. PMID: 37887537; PMCID: PMC10605887.
• Benton A, Geller DA, Brower B, Ramanathan R, Geroni M, Devine L, Naveen R, Antoni MH, Tohme S, Steel JL. Negative Illness Perception and Increase Risk for Morbidity and Mortality in Cancers Affecting the Hepatobiliary System. Under Review

Dean's List, 04/2023