Ramamurthy named interim chair of the Department of Biochemistry

Visvanathan Ramamurthy, Ph.D., has been named interim chair of the WVU School of Medicine’s Department of Biochemistry, effective September 6, 2019. Former chair, Michael D. Schaller, Ph.D., will continue to serve as professor in the Department.

Dr. Ramamurthy is a professor in the Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Biochemistry and Neuroscience. His research interests include neuronal degeneration, childhood and night blindness, gene therapy, and other areas related to vision and the brain. He earned his doctorate in 1998 from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, in 1998 followed by fellowship training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington. 

Dr. Schaller has been with the University since 2008 and will continue his research and education efforts, as well as leadership of the recently awarded T32 focused on cell biology, in collaboration with his co-investigators Yon Rojanasakul, Ph.D. and Cerasela Zoica Dinu, Ph.D. 

For more information about the Department of Biochemistry, visit the website.