People
Current Lab Members
Kartik Rajagopalan, M.D., Ph.D.
Position: Principal Investigator | Email Dr. Rajagopalan
Dr. Kartik Rajagopalan is a physician-scientist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, and a member of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at UT Southwestern. He specializes in medical critical care.
Dr. Rajagopalan earned his medical and doctoral degrees at UT Southwestern where he studied metabolic fluxes during cell proliferation in the lab of Dr. Ralph DeBerardinis. He then completed his Internal Medicine Residency and Pulmonary and Critical-care Fellowship at Columbia University in New York. He performed post-doctoral work understanding the role of leptin signaling during influenza and COVID infection in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Friedman at Rockefeller University.
He returned to UT Southwestern to start a faculty position and laboratory in September of 2023.
When not in the laboratory, Kartik continues to practice medicine as an intensivist.
David Bautista, Ph.D.
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher | Email David
Dr. David Bautista is from San Antonio, Texas and he earned his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences from Texas A&M University – Kingsville. He discovered his passion for research as an undergraduate student by conducting research on potassium channels in Drosophila Melanogaster. This experience led him to a Post Baccalaureate research program at Brown University where he studied the effects of alcohol on brain lipids. Dr. Bautista earned his PhD in Microbiology from Texas A&M University where he studied the relationship between inhibition of DNA Mismatch Repair and increased antibiotic resistance in gram – negative bacteria.
His genuine curiosity and eagerness to learn led him to a post-doctoral position in the department of internal medicine at UT Southwestern. Dr. Bautista’s research focuses on the role of the hormone Leptin, and the potential it has for therapeutic strategies during chronic infection.
Tadiwanashe Gwatiringa
Position: Research Assistant/Lab Manager | Email Tadiwanashe
With a solid academic foundation and a visionary approach to health and society, Tadiwanashe is on a trajectory towards making a substantial impact in the medical field.
Tadiwanashe holds a bachelor's degree in human biology, health, and society from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
She is on a pre-med academic track to pursue a combined MD/PhD which she intends to use to deepen her knowledge and understanding of health disparities, with the goal of devising strategies that contribute significantly to improving healthcare access and outcomes for underserved communities.
Soumya Kamath, M.S.
Position: Research Scientist | Email Soumya
Soumya is originally from North Carolina, where she earned her B.S. in Biology with a minor in Hispanic Studies at East Carolina University. She remained at her alma mater to pursue an M.S. in Biomedical Sciences, joining the Department of Integrated Physiology and Metabolism. Her master’s thesis focused on the mechanisms of female pelvic floor and genitourinary function in relation to Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.
Her interest in metabolism brought her to UT Southwestern in the fall of 2024, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences in the Cell and Molecular Biology program, with a track in Molecular Mechanisms of Metabolic Diseases. Soumya’s current research focuses on investigating lipolysis as a protective immune response in the context of sepsis.
Danny Litty
Position: Student Intern | Email Danny
Danny Litty is an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Dallas pursuing a major in Neuroscience and a minor in Healthcare Management. He joined the lab with the interest of learning more about the intersection between energy regulation with immune responses within the lens of a pulmonary and critical care lab. After graduation, Danny plans to attend medical school in order to serve underserved populations in surrounding communities, while addressing and raising awareness of preexisting healthcare disparities.
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