Dr. Gangula Pandu R has been involved in education for over 20 years. He has completed his PhD in India in 1992 in the area of reproductive physiology (Zoology). Then he served as a senior research fellow for more than a year in India. During this period, he had an opportunity to teach M.S students in our university at both class room and lab. He is moved to the United States in July 1993 as a post-doctoral fellow in Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. As background, his earlier training was as a Research Associate (July 1993-Sep 1994) in the Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University. Later on he worked as a post-doctoral fellow and Assistant Professor (non T-T) in the Department of Ob/Gyn (1994-2004) and Assistant Professor (T-T) in the Division of Gastroenterology (2004-2008) at UTMB in Galveston, TX. When he arrived in Nashville (2008), his appointment was as an Associate Professor (T-T) in the Department of Ob/Gyn at Meharry; He was also a member of the Center for Women’s Health Research (CWHR). In 2011, his primary appointment moved to the Department of Physiology because of his strong background in physiology, but he maintained his status as an active member of the CWHR. In 2012, He was given a secondary appointment (it became primary appointment from July 1st 2015) in the School of Dentistry (SOD) and the title of Chairman, Oral Biology and Research. Since he organized a SOD course on “Introduction to Clinical Research” and continues to foster collaborative faculty and student research projects. Recently, in fall 2013 they are introduced “Biomedical Integration Seminar Course” to Freshman Dental Students. This course will allow the students not only to learn how to integrate basic sciences into their dental clinical approach and patient care but also will help them to understand on how poor oral health can cause systemic diseases. He also serves as course-coordinator and instructor for Physiology II for graduate students.

He has been involved in diabetic and cardiovascular related research for the past 20 years. He has experience in 1) develop protocols with research planning, 2) conduct research using telemetry and 3) research on animal as well as human model of diseases as evidenced by numerous publications in the field. As a biomedical research scientist, he has been funded with NIH-RO1’s (NICHD), R21 (NIDDK) and RO3 (NIA) both as a Principal Investigator as well as Co-Investigator. For the past several years, he has been providing research training/teaching/mentoring to post-doctoral fellows, research technicians, junior faculty, clinical residents, medical and dental students. He is actively involved in writing and submitting research proposals, secured NIH funding to conduct research, publishing research findings in peer-reviewed journals, actively involved in reviewing various grant proposals and making funding decisions (Italian and RCMI grant reviewer since last two years), review manuscripts of others and provide critiques to improve and publish in peer-reviewed scientific journals. As a Chair of Department of Oral Biology and Research, he encourage faculty and students to get involve in research related activities. He provide them all necessary tools to implement research and assist them in submitting grants to secure funding and carryout research. Lastly, as an administrator and scientific advisor, he organizes and conducts scientific meetings, record meeting minutes and work with various faculties to implement research in the college.

He gained experience in working with oral pathogens and their role on systemic diseases including cardiovascular, atherosclerosis and diabetes. He has more than 20 year experience in working with animal diseased models, telemetric methods, laboratory equipment, interpreting laboratory findings, data analysis and procedures, preparation of in-depth technical reports, publishing research findings in peer-reviewed journals, writing grants, presenting research findings and methodologies in various national and international meetings as evidence in the attached resume.

Gum diseases and metabolic syndrome (obesity, type II diabetes and heart disease) is higher across the world. However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. He has established significant experience in both oral health (periodontitis etc) and its connection with systemic diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes and obesity. Accumulating evidence suggests that poor oral health can lead to severe systemic diseases. In addition it is well known that oral treatment itself can be a better treatment to control the progression of systemic diseases such as diabetes. He strongly hope that his dual experience will help in developing new research projects and investigate the underlying mechanism(s) associated with systemic health complications.

Reproductive physiology; Department of Pharmacology; Division of Gastroenterology.