Krishna Rao

Birthplace: Ahmedabad, India

Undergraduate Institution: Northwestern University

Medical School: Rush University Medical Center

Postdoctoral Training: University of Michigan Health System

Graduate School: University of Michigan School of Public Health

Although a lover of mathematics, computers, and science from a young age, Dr. Rao initially wanted to be a practicing clinician and have nothing to do with research. That was true until halfway through his infectious diseases fellowship when he “caught the research bug” and decided to make a career shift, against the advice of his financial planner. With some effort (and a whole lot of luck) he has managed to successfully conduct several patient-oriented research projects related to Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). His overall research objective is to investigate how biochemical, microbiological, and clinical factors relate to the prognosis of CDI, which he hopes will aid in decision-making and treatment of CDI. He seeks to ultimately integrate these factors into simple yet robust risk-prediction algorithms for use by clinicians and deliver an answer to the ultimate remaining question in the management of CDI: “Is there an app for that?”

When not staring at his computer screen Krishna’s favorite activities include: staring at another screen (the last model of Panasonic’s excellent but now-defunct plasma TV lineup) to watch shows and movies in his dark man-cave; listening to vinyl on his audiophile-grade system; looking at globular clusters through one of his four telescopes; bothering famous people on Twitter; reading, especially science fiction and fantasy; and playing with gadgets of all shapes and sizes.

e-mail: krirao@med.umich.edu