Dr.

Abdul Rao was the

Senior Associate Vice
President for Research
and Graduate Studies at
USF Health
USF Health aims to ameliorate health
in the wider environment, in
communities, and for individuals. USF
Health has, as its core, the three
colleges of Public Health, Nursing and
Medicine, including a School of
Physical Therapy, as well as the
healthcare delivered by its clinicians.
Abdul S. Rao, MD, MA, DPhil, served as
the Senior Associate Vice President for
Research and Graduate Studies at USF
Health, and Vice Dean for Research
and Graduate Studies for the College of
Medicine. At USF Health, Abdul Rao
was the leader of the research for the
three USF colleges of medicine,
nursing and public health.
He helped to seamlessly bridge
research across USF and USF Health
campuses. Dr. Abdul Rao said, "I am
very excited about this opportunity to
work with faculty, staff, and students at
USF Health to enhance its research
capacity and to continue to improve the
quality of its graduate programs.
There is an enormous potential for
growth of basic, translational, and
clinical research at USF Health and the
prospect of developing productive
collaborations between faculty and
students in the College/Schools at USF,
the Moffitt Cancer Center, the All
Children's Hospital, and many other
local and regional affiliates.
Dr. Abdul Rao has been the Vice
Provost for Research and Sponsored
Programs and Dean, College of
Graduate Studies at the Middle
Tennessee State University, where he
was a Professor of Biology. He also
served as the Chair of the Research
Council for the Tennessee Board of
Regents -
The sixth largest higher education
system in the United States, with over
180,000 students enrolled in 45
universities, community colleges, and
technology centers.
Dr. Abdul S. Rao did his medical degree
from Dow Medical University, Karachi,
Pakistan, in 1983. After completing his
residency training in Orthopedic
Surgery, Abdul Rao joined the
Department of Physiology, Boston
University School of Medicine and
graduated in 1989 with a M.A., in
Physiology.
He completed a year of post-doctoral
Research Fellowship in the Department
of Neurology, Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Abdul Rao joined the Nuffield
Department of Surgery, University of
Oxford, Oxford, UK, as a Clinical
Instructor from 1990-1993. He
graduated from the University of
Oxford with a D.Phil., (Doctor of
Philosophy) in Transplantation
Immunology in 1993.