Ravi Bellamkonda Named 18th President of The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University Board of Trustees has officially appointed Ravi V. Bellamkonda as the university’s 18th president. The announcement, made on March 12, 2026, elevates the current executive vice president and provost to the top leadership position of the prestigious public research institution. Bellamkonda, an Indian American biomedical engineer, originally joined Ohio State in January 2025, where he has since been responsible for the university’s massive academic enterprise, including 15 colleges, four regional campuses, and a faculty body exceeding 8,800 members.

In his new capacity as president, Bellamkonda will lead a university system that enrolls more than 67,000 students across six Ohio campuses. This includes the primary campus in Columbus, regional locations in Lima, Mansfield, Marion, Newark, and Wooster, as well as the Wexner Medical Center and the university’s prominent national athletics program. Following the announcement, Bellamkonda released a video message alongside his wife, Lalitha, noting that after more than 400 days on campus, they have been deeply moved by the community’s generosity. He emphasized that while Ohio State is globally recognized as an athletics powerhouse, it is equally a powerhouse in academic research and excellence.

During his tenure as provost, Bellamkonda was a primary architect of the Education for Citizenship 2035 strategic plan. This initiative focuses on student success, academic excellence, and establishing leadership in artificial intelligence. Under his guidance, the university launched the AI Fluency program to integrate artificial intelligence into undergraduate education, established a new Career Center of Excellence to bridge the gap between students and employers, and implemented faculty hiring programs to attract world-class scholars.

Bellamkonda’s professional background is marked by significant leadership roles at other elite institutions. Before arriving at Ohio State, he served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Emory University. There, he led faculty recruitment and curricular innovation, specifically focusing on AI applications in medicine, business, and law. He also championed the Student Flourishing initiative and the Emory Purpose Project, which focused on student ethics and well-being. Earlier in his career, he served as the Vinik Dean of Engineering at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and held the Wallace H. Coulter professorship at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Beyond administration, Bellamkonda is a renowned researcher in the field of biomedical engineering. His lab developed a “tumor monorail” device designed to treat pediatric and adult brain tumors. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated this device as a breakthrough technology, and it entered a Phase 1 clinical trial in December 2025 to monitor recurrent glioblastoma. His research has earned him the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Transformative Research Award and 11 U.S. patents. He also served as the president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering from 2014 to 2016 and is a fellow of several prestigious organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Inventors.

Bellamkonda holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Osmania University in India. He earned his doctorate in medical science and biomaterials from Brown University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neurobiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).