Ohio State College of Medicine selects new head of internal medicine

The Ohio State University College of Medicine has tapped Dr. Rama Mallampalli to chair the Department of Internal Medicine. He starts Nov. 15.

Dr. Mallampalli will play a key role in growing the national reputation of The Ohio State University in clinical care, service, education and research. Further, he will play a central role in expanding mentoring programs for faculty, trainees and staff within the Department of Internal Medicine. He comes to Ohio State from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he served as professor and chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine and vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine.

“Dr. Mallampalli is internationally recognized for innovative research in acute lung injury. He joins us from one of the most prodigious pulmonary groups in the nation. He will be leading our largest department and brings incredible experience and energy to our Internal Medicine program in our quest to become top 10,” said Dr. K. Craig Kent, dean of the College of Medicine.

While at the University of Pittsburgh, Mallampalli recruited 42 faculty to a division that is currently 123 strong, making it one of the largest pulmonary groups in the country. Under his leadership, his faculty received more than $30 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health. During his tenure, the pulmonology division at University of Pittsburgh grew from 11th to 5th in the country as measured by U.S. News & World Report.

“I look forward to integrating with the wonderful people at the Department of Internal Medicine to build upon the tripartite mission of research, education and patient care,” said Mallampalli.

Mallampalli’s research interests include acute lung injury, lung function and the molecules responsible for sepsis and pneumonia. He is currently the principal investigator on eight different grants totaling $3.1 million in annual research funding. Mallampalli’s work has been published in top tier journals including Nature Medicine and Nature Immunology. He also serves as co-founder and consultant for Koutif Therapeutics, LLC, a company that has successfully completed investigational new drug enabling studies for a first-in-human novel therapy that can potentially treat inflammatory bowel disease, severe pneumonia and rheumatoid arthritis.

A nationally recognized leader for his innovative research, Mallampalli is a recipient of the American Thoracic Society Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments for discoveries in pulmonary cell and molecular biology and the Harrington Scholar-Innovator award for new drug discovery. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians and numerous NIH study sections.

Mallampalli received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin and completed a fellowship in pulmonology and critical care medicine at the University of Iowa.