Staff Profile

Educational Qualification

MBBS, MD (Community Medicine)

Personal Statement

I am a dedicated and passionate clinician and medical scientist with a strong academic and research background in clinical research and public health and over 15 years of research experience in academic and/or research institutions. I have developed a skill set that includes conducting experimental design especially on vaccines and treatment for drug resistant Tuberculosis, data analysis and scientific writing. Throughout my career, I have contributed to multiple research projects, resulting in peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. I thrive in multidisciplinary environments and known for my ability to communicate technical information clearly to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Research Focus

• • Public Health
• • Tuberculosis
• • Clinical trials
• • Operational Research
• • Allergy and Immunology

Ongoing projects as Principal investigator

• Accelerating Efforts to END TB in India (Mega TB Demonstration project)

• Identifying gaps and challenges in Continuum of TB care among labourers working in quarries in Madurai district

Significant Publications

• George M, Shanmugam E, Srivatsan V, Vasanth K, Ramraj B, Rajaram M, Jena A, Sridhar A, Chaudhury M, Kaliappan I. Value of pentraxin-3 and galectin-3 in acute coronary syndrome: a short-term prospective cohort study. Ther Adv Cardiovasc Dis. 2015 Oct;9(5):275-84: 1-10. Citations – 53, IF – 2.2

• Bairwa M, Behera S, Chavda PD, Kulkarni P, Mohapatra A, Ramraj B, et al. Combating the COVID-19 pandemic in a resource-constrained setting: insights from initial response in India.

BMJ Global Health 2020 Nov; 5(11):e003416. Citations – 45, IF – 6.1

• P Lakshmi Prabha, A K Jayanthy, C Prem Kumar, Balaji Ramraj. Prediction of cardiovascular risk by measuring carotid intima media thickness from an ultrasound image for type II diabetic mellitus subjects using machine learning and transfer learning techniques. The Journal of Supercomputing 2021 Mar. Citations – 15, IF – 2.7

• Ella R, Reddy S, Blackwelder W, Potdar V, Yadav P, Sarangi V, Aileni VK, Kanungo S, Rai S, Reddy P, Verma S, Singh C, Redkar S, Mohapatra S, Pandey A, Ranganadin P, Gumashta R, Multani M, Mohammad S, Bhatt P, Kumari L, Sapkal G, Gupta N, Abraham P, Panda S, Prasad S, Bhargava B, Ella K, Vadrevu KM, Ramraj B; COVAXIN Study Group. Efficacy, safety, and lot-to-lot immunogenicity of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (BBV152): interim results of a randomised, double-blind, controlled, phase 3 trial. Lancet. 2021 Dec 11;398(10317):2173-2184. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02000-6. Epub 2021 Nov 11. Citations – 408, IF – 88.5

• Raj JP, Venkatachalam S, Amaravati RS, Siby N, Oommen AM, Ramraj B, et al. Extent of awareness and attitudes on plagiarism among post-graduate resident doctors and junior medical faculty in India: a cross-sectional, multicentric study. BMJ Open 2021 Jun 16;11(6):e046904. Citations – 22, IF – 2.9

• Raj JP, Venkatachalam S, Amaravati RS, Baburajan R, George M, Ramraj B, Gopalakrishnan B, et al. Extent of knowledge and attitudes on plagiarism among undergraduate medical students in South India - a multicentre, cross-sectional study to determine the need for incorporating research ethics in medical undergraduate curriculum. BMC Med Educ. 2022 May 18;22(1):380. Citations – 12, IF – 3.2

• Padmapriyadarsini C, Devaleenal B, Ponnuraja C, Ramraj B, Singla R, Parmar M, Mattoo S, Mandal S. Randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of varying doses of linezolid with bedaquiline and pretomanid in adults with pre-extensively drug-resistant or treatment intolerant/non-responsive multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis: study protocol. BMJ Open. 2022 Aug 29;12(8):e058606. Citations – 11, IF – 2.9

• Sachdeva KS, Bhatnagar AK, Bhaskar A, Singla N, Sridhar R, Ramraj B, Athawale A, Solanki R, Baruah SR, Patel Y, Ramachandran R, Padmapriyadarsini C. QTc prolongation with bedaquiline treatment for drug-resistant pulmonary TB in a programmatic setting. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2023 Apr 1;27(4):329-331. Citations – 1, IF – 3.8

• Padmapriyadarsini C, Oswal VS, Jain CD, Mariappan MV, Singla N, Kumar S, Daniel BD, Dave JD, Vadgama P, Ramraj B, et al; modified BPaL (mBPaL) Study Team. Effectiveness and Safety of Varying Doses of Linezolid With Bedaquiline and Pretomanid in Treatment of Drug-Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Open-Label, Randomized Clinical Trial. Clin Infect Dis. 2024 Dec 17;79(6):1375-1385. Citations – 12, IF – 9.1

• Kumar NP, Balaji S, Devi PG, Ramraj B, Nancy A, Selvaraj N, Ahamed SF, M K, S S, Gunasundari A, Seetha A, Varadarajan P, S E, Venkataraman A, Babu S. Inflammatory cytokine responses in pediatric tuberculosis with or without SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity. J Infect. 2024 Dec;89(6):106314. IF – 12.7

• Giridharan P, Inbaraj LR, Frederick A, Selvaraju S, Ramraj B, Thiruvengadam K, Daniel BD, Padmapriyadarsini C. Diagnostic accuracy of screening and diagnostic tests used in a state-wide tuberculosis prevalence survey in India. Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 18;15(1):9305. IF – 3.9

• Ramraj B, Nagarajan K, Purakayastha DR, Madhukar M, Kumar M, Raj N, Kumar S, Unger BS, Rajamani N, Bangar SD, et al. Qualitative Study of Nutritional Support-Related Perceptions and Preferences Among Persons Affected by TB, Family Caregivers, and Healthcare Providers in India. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease. 2025 Apr; 10(4):114. IF – 2.6

• Daniel BD, Shanmugam S, Mehta R, Bhalla M, Mariappan M, Ramraj B, Padmapriyadarsini C, et al. Long term outcomes in drug resistant tuberculosis with Bedaquiline, Pretomanid and varying doses of Linezolid.

J Infect. 2025 Jul;91(1):106509. IF – 12.7

• Muniyandi M, Ramraj B, Vadamalai S, Abdul Salam S, Devaleenal B, Jaju J, Padmapriyadarsini C. Comparing cost-effectiveness of short-course regimens for drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment in India. Int J Technol Assess Health Care. 2025 Jul 21;41(1):e48. IF – 3.2

Awards and Honours

1. Best paper award for presentation on "Safety and Clinical efficacy of Ultra-rush Allergen Specific Sublingual Immunotherapy among patients suffering from Allergic rhinitis" at IAACON 2011, National conference of Indian Academy of Allergy at Bangalore on 16–18th August, 2011.

2. Travel award for presentation on "Does same duration of treatment for PreXDR TB patients managed with shorter oral Bedaquiline containing regimens suffice for all? – A point to ponder" at APRC 2024, 9th Asia Pacific Region Conference of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease at Taipei, Taiwan on 29th April, 2024.

3. Young Scientist Award for Community Health at KACHCON 2024, Annual Conference of Karnataka Association of Community Health organized by JSS Medical College, Mysore on November 14, 2025.

Research Profiles