An associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and epidemiology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine since 2020, Dr. Kartik Venkatesh carries forward a legacy deeply rooted in his family’s immigrant journey from South Asia to the United States. His passion for maternal-fetal medicine, public health, and epidemiology is grounded in a life shaped by his parents’ dedication to education, service, and resilience as first-generation immigrants.
“As a native son of Ohio, I’m proud to be serving our flagship state institution in providing the best high-risk pregnancy care. I’m humbled when we can implement the newest advances in scientific discovery to improve the lives of mothers and infants,” Venkatesh explained.
Venkatesh witnessed firsthand the hard work and perseverance it took to build a life in a new country while maintaining strong connections to his cultural roots. These early experiences motivated Venkatesh to pursue academic and professional excellence.
In 2002, he left Dayton, Ohio to attend Brown University, majoring in Sanskrit and South Asian anthropology — an acknowledgment of his heritage — while simultaneously charting a path toward medicine. As a PhD student in epidemiology at Brown, he was able to research the social and gender-based epidemiology of HIV in South India through four years of fieldwork in Chennai. This research project allowed him to connect his interest in the social determinants of health with a future career as a physician scientist.
Venkatesh completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital followed by a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
The Ohio State Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has a long tradition of clinical and public health research in diabetes and cardiometabolic heath in pregnancy. With funding from the State of Ohio, the department recruited Venkatesh to lead a new Maternal-Fetal Medicine Perinatal Epidemiology Program. After leaving two decades earlier, Venkatesh returned back home to Ohio with his wife Dr. Rajitha Venkatesh, who joined the faculty at Ohio State’s affiliated Nationwide Children’s Hospital as a pediatric gastroenterologist, and two young children. In 2022, they welcomed the birth of their Ohio baby.
“In addition to patient care, I have just as much passion and drive when it comes to research. As the director of our Maternal-Fetal Medicine Perinatal Epidemiology Program, which includes building public health research and programs to serve mothers and infants affected by high-risk pregnancies. I also direct collaborations with public stakeholders to improve outcomes for mothers and infants using evidence-based public health interventions,” Venkatesh detailed.
He is also the Director of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Program at Ohio State, one of the nation’s oldest and largest integrated prenatal care programs. “Each year, this program serves nearly 1,000 pregnant individuals with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes from across the state of Ohio.”
Venkatesh is continuing his family’s legacy of making an impact, blending his immigrant roots with his academic and clinical expertise to serve communities across Ohio.
“I love being a physician and scientist in this academic and clinical powerhouse that is a true gem for the people of Ohio.”