Dear Faculty, Staff and Students:
I couldn’t be more excited to share with you that Dr. Ravi V. Bellamkonda, a renowned biomedical engineer and higher education leader, will be joining our Ohio State community as the university’s next executive vice president and provost.
Over the last several months, we have searched for the exact right leader to serve as our chief academic officer, and Dr. Bellamkonda’s record of success as an educator, scientist, and collaborative and collegial administrator made our choice clear. Pending approval by the Board of Trustees, he will begin his tenure at Ohio State on January 14, 2025.
I encourage you to read the full announcement of this important position at Ohio State News.
Dr. Bellamkonda comes to us from Emory University, where he currently serves as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. At Emory, he has launched and led several major initiatives, including faculty recruitment and retention efforts focused on arts and humanistic inquiry, as well as artificial intelligence in service to humanity across areas such as medicine, business, law and more. In addition, he helped lead the ambitious Student Flourishing initiative, which included curricular innovations as well as the Emory Purpose Project focused on well-being and ethics. He has also served as the Vinik Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University, and the Wallace H. Coulter Professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and associate vice president for research, at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. He earned a PhD at Brown University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before beginning his academic career at Case Western Reserve University.
Additionally, Dr. Bellamkonda is an internationally renowned biomedical researcher, whose lab has invented novel approaches to treat pediatric and adult brain tumors.
In 2021, he received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Transformative Research Award for his work, supported by the National Cancer Institute. His tumor monorail device has been recognized as a breakthrough technology by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and he is the scientific founder of Exvade Bioscience, a startup that is pioneering trials for the device.
He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering; and Society for Biomaterials; as well as an elected senior member of the National Academy of Inventors.
I know that Dr. Bellamkonda is eager to arrive and begin our work together. His spouse of 30 years, Dr. Lalita Kaligotla, is also excited to get to know Ohio State and our campuses. The two will be bringing their dog, CJ, and looking forward to visits from their two adult children.
Please join me welcoming their family to Ohio State — and expressing our deepest gratitude to Dr. Karla Zadnik, who has served as interim executive vice president and provost during this transition. Dr. Zadnik will remain in her position as interim dean of the College of Public Health while that dean search continues before returning to the College of Optometry as dean. I look forward to continuing to work with her as we plan the future of higher education at Ohio State and beyond.
Dr. Bellamkonda has explained to me that his leadership philosophy is rooted in the relentless pursuit of excellence. This commitment is not only clear from his decades of academic leadership, but also speaks to the work you do as faculty, staff and students each day.
My gratitude also goes to the university’s search committee, including co-chairs Dr. John J. Warner, chief executive officer of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and executive vice president at Ohio State, and Dr. Janet Box-Steffensmeier, Distinguished University Professor, Vernal Riffe Professor of Political Science and professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. Its work to help identify and define the needed skills and leadership attributes of our next provost was critical to the success of this process.
Thank you all for your continued dedication to the pursuit of excellence, and as always, Go Bucks!
Sincerely,
Ted
Ted Carter
President