Researcher Spotlight: Srihari Veeraraghavan

What is your professional background?
I am a pulmonary and critical care physician. I conduct clinical research in interstitial and rare lung diseases. I finished my fellowship in pulmonary and critical care at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and spent three years at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London specializing in interstitial lung diseases. 

In what division do you work, and who is your mentor?
I work in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine. My mentor is my division chief Dr. David Guidot.

Briefly describe your research. Why is it important?
I do clinical research in pulmonary fibrosis and rare lung diseases. Pulmonary fibrosis can be a progressive life-threatening disease with very limited therapeutic options. I feel fortunate to be able to provide novel therapies through clinical trials for our patients. I also run the rare lung disease clinic here at Emory. This is one of about 50 clinics worldwide which form the ‘The Rare Lung Disease-Clinic Network (RLD-CN)’, a collaboration of geographically distributed academic and clinical centers.

What do you like most about Emory?
The best thing about Emory is my colleagues. I get to work with them every day in a world class environment with no stress.

What is your favorite movie or TV show?
I like ‘Jeopardy.’ The right answer is always a question. Isn’t it?

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I enjoy reading, long walks, gardening, and spending time with my wife and kids.

What is a fun fact about you?
My wife and I drove nearly 20,000 miles in 3 months covering 35 states for our honeymoon (and the marriage still survived!!!).