Raj S. Lavadi, MD

Bio

Raj Swaroop Lavadi was born in India and moved to New Jersey when he was two years old. He was raised in North Jersey before returning to India for his medical education. He received his degree from Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre. Following his graduation, he enrolled in a research fellowship at the Washington University in St. Louis, and later at the University of Pittsburgh. During this time, he was mentored by Dr. Nitin Agarwal, Dr. D. Kojo Hamilton, and Dr. Joseph C. Maroon. His research focused on personalizing the care of patients with spine disease as well as using advanced, diffusion imaging modalities to identify biomarkers in patients with traumatic brain injury.

His most notable work was published in JAMA Surgery and discussed the visible signs of concussion in slap fighting. He has been featured in local, regional, national, and international media outlets as a result. During his fellowship, he not only developed his own research portfolio, but he was also able to guide several undergraduate and medical students in their own research efforts. Currently, he has more than 50 peer-reviewed publications to his name, accompanied by more than double the number of conference presentations.

Raj is a staunch and long-time Boston Celtics fan and used to write about the team in his blog posts for Chowder and Champions. He enjoys keeping up with the latest neurosurgical literature, exploring the outdoors with his family, traveling, long-distance running, peer mentoring, and playing the Mridangam — a South Indian percussion instrument of which he has over two decades of experience.