17 October 2024
Alumnus SR Venkatramanan and his wife, Usha Venkatramanan, have made a generous contribution to establish two Chair Professorships in the upcoming post-graduate medical school at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in memory of his parents, SS Ramaswamy and M Seethalakshmi.
The “Usha and SR Venkatramanan Family Endowment” will support, in perpetuity, young faculty members at the Assistant Professor level working on cutting-edge medical research, specifically in the areas of endocrinology and nephrology.
“We are extremely grateful to the Venkatramanan family for their generous contribution, which will foster cutting-edge medical research at the Institute,” says G Rangarajan, Director, IISc. “The endowment will enable us to host and encourage exceptional young researchers driving advances in medical research. We are rapidly moving forward with our plans to establish a postgraduate medical school along with the Bagchi-Parthasarathy Hospital on campus. Such contributions will greatly strengthen our efforts and reinforce our commitment to training the next generation of physician-scientists.”
SR Venkatramanan completed his BE in Electrical Technology and MTech in Physical Engineering from IISc in 1975 and 1977 respectively. He then joined ISRO and worked on the Rohini/SLV-3 project which laid the foundation for India’s Chandrayaan missions. Venkatramanan has held senior engineering and leadership roles in diverse organisations, including AT&T Bell Labs, Sun Microsystems, Dell Technologies, Yahoo, eBay, and PayPal. Currently based in California, he is the Founder of NetCracker Systems, providing professional solutions related to performance and scalability in computer systems specialising in UNIX, Networking, and Java.
“I believe that IISc, renowned for its excellence in science and technology, can attract top researchers and ensure the translation of groundbreaking medical research into practical solutions,” Venkatramanan says. “Children with Type-1 diabetes endure daily struggles, constantly fearing life-threatening hypoglycemia, that deprive them of a normal childhood. We must find a cure for this disease, not just some more treatments. Impaired kidneys force individuals of all ages to rely on machines for their basic living, draining their physical and emotional energy, and hindering their ability to contribute to society. Stem cell research offers promising solutions for these challenges. I hope that IISc leads the way in addressing these critical health issues.”
The contribution was facilitated through the IISc Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity set up in the USA to support research and infrastructure development at the Institute.
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