Dr. Vinathi Polamraju joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July of 2025. She was raised in Dallas, Texas, and attended Texas A&M University, where she graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences and a double minor in neuroscience and business administration through the University Honors Program. During this time, she developed a strong interest in scientific research and worked in an immunology lab for three years, elucidating conserved RNA secondary structures among beta-coronaviruses in an effort to develop new anti-viral targets.
Her research earned her the Best Poster Presentation award at the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program at Texas A&M University. She continued her education at McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas, where she obtained her doctorate degree in 2022. During her time there, she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. She also remained committed to research, focusing on a project that aimed to elucidate the mechanism behind daptomycin resistance in Enterococcus faecalis. This research earned her a Dean’s Summer Research Stipend, and her findings have been published and presented at various conferences. After completing her medical education, she pursued her internship and residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/WashU Medicine.
She continued her passion for research, focusing on clinical research in gastroenterology and hepatology, through the highly selective Clinician-Scientist Training and Research (C-STAR) Program. She presented her work at local and national conferences, including institutional grand rounds, and received second place at the Washington University School of Medicine’s Internal Medicine Scholars Symposium for her research. Her current areas of interest include general internal medicine, with a special focus on translational and outcomes-based research in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. Her long-term career goals include pursuing fellowship training in gastroenterology, followed by transplant hepatology. Outside of medicine, she enjoys traveling to new countries, trying new restaurants, spending time with friends and family, and cheering on Texas A&M Aggie football. Dr. Polamraju looks forward to providing excellent care to her patients as a member of the Division of Hospital Medicine.