Skip to Main Content
Kartik Rajagopalan, M.D.,  Ph.D.

Kartik Rajagopalan, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

School
Medical School
Department
Internal Medicine | Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern
Graduate Programs
Immunology
  • Biography

    Kartik N. Rajagopalan, M.D., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He holds a secondary appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Children's Medical Center Research Institute and directs a research lab studying energy regulation during infection. He specializes in medical critical care.

    Originally from Houston, Dr. Rajagopalan earned his doctorate in cancer biology and his medical degree through the Perot Family Scholars Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Rajagopalan holds a bachelor's in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated magna cum laude. He completed an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University. Compelled by the power of basic science to improve patient outcomes after learning about the targeted cancer therapeutic imatinib mesylate, he then transferred into the MSTP.

    Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, and critical care, Dr. Rajagopalan joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2023.

    Dr. Rajagopalan's research interests include energy regulation, immune response, leptin signaling, and respiratory viral infection. 

    Personal Note
    Outside of work, Dr. Rajagopalan enjoys reading and hanging out with his wife and two daughters.

  • Education
    Medical School
    UT Southwestern Medical School (2016)
    Residency
    New York Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia Campus)) (2018), Internal Medicine
    Fellowship
    New York - Presbyterian Hospital - Columbia Campus (2021), Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
  • Research Interest
    • Energy Regulation
    • Immune Response
    • Leptin Signaling
    • Respiratory Viral Infection
  • Publications
    Cryptococcus neoformans Infective Endocarditis After Lung Transplantation: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
    Fountain JH, Rajagopalan KN, Carroll M, Robbins H, Benvenuto LJ, Shimbo D, Marboe CC, Arcasoy SM, Pereira MR Infectious Diseases in Clinical Practice 2021 Nov 29 E457-E461
    A randomized double-blind controlled trial of convalescent plasma in adults with severe COVID-19
    O'Donnell MR, Grinsztejn B, Cummings MJ, Justman JE, Lamb MR, Eckhardt CM, Philip NM, Cheung YK, Gupta V, João E, Pilotto JH, Diniz MP, Cardoso SW, Abrams D, Rajagopalan KN, Borden SE, Wolf A, Sidi LC, Vizzoni A, Veloso VG, Bitan ZC, Scotto DE, Meyer BJ, Jacobson SD, Kantor A, Mishra N, Chauhan LV, Stone EF, Zotti FD, La Carpia F, Hudson KE, Ferrara SA, Schwartz J, Stotler BA, Lin WH, Wontakal SN, Shaz B, Briese T, Hod EA, Spitalnik SL, Eisenberger A, Lipkin WI Journal of Clinical Investigation 2021 Jul 131
    Depletion of H3K36me2 recapitulates epigenomic and phenotypic changes induced by the H3.3K36M oncohistone mutation
    Rajagopalan KN, Chen X, Weinberg DN, Chen H, Majewski J, Allis CD, Lu C Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2021 Mar 118
    Correction to: Evaluating the efficacy and safety of human anti-SARS-CoV-2 convalescent plasma in severely ill adults with COVID-19: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (Trials, (2020), 21, 1, (499), 10.1186/s13063-020-04422-y)
    Eckhardt CM, Cummings MJ, Rajagopalan KN, Borden S, Bitan ZC, Wolf A, Kantor A, Briese T, Meyer BJ, Jacobson SD, Scotto D, Mishra N, Philip NM, Stotler BA, Schwartz J, Shaz B, Spitalnik SL, Eisenberger A, Hod Jessica Justman EA, Cheung K, Lipkin WI, O’Donnell MR Trials 2020 Dec 21
    Body mass index and risk for intubation or death in SARS-CoV-2 infection: A retrospective cohort study
    Anderson MR, Geleris J, Anderson DR, Zucker J, Nobel YR, Freedberg D, Small-Saunders J, Rajagopalan KN, Greendyk R, Chae SR, Natarajan K, Roh D, Edwin E, Gallagher D, Podolanczuk A, Barr RG, Ferrante AW, Baldwin MR Annals of internal medicine 2020 Nov 173 782-790
    Erratum: Evaluating the efficacy and safety of human anti-SARS-CoV-2 convalescent plasma in severely ill adults with COVID-19: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial (Trials (2020) 21 (499) DOI: 10.1186/s13063-020-04422-y)
    Eckhardt CM, Cummings MJ, Rajagopalan KN, Borden S, Bitan ZC, Wolf A, Kantor A, Briese T, Meyer BJ, Jacobson SD, Scotto D, Mishra N, Philip NM, Stotler BA, Schwartz J, Shaz B, Spitalnik SL, Eisenberger A, Hod EA, Justman J, Cheung K, Lipkin WI, O'Donnell MR Trials 2020 Jun 21
    Evalua ting the efficacy and safety of human anti-SARS-CoV-2 convalescent plasma in severely ill adults with COVID-19: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
    Eckhardt CM, Cummings MJ, Rajagopalan KN, Borden S, Bitan ZC, Wolf A, Kantor A, Briese T, Meyer BJ, Jacobson SD, Scotto D, Mishra N, Philip NM, Stotler BA, Schwartz J, Shaz B, Spitalnik SL, Eisenberg A, Hod EA, Justman J, Cheung K, Lipkin WI, O'donnell MR Trials 2020 Jun 21
    The histone mark H3K36me2 recruits DNMT3A and shapes the intergenic DNA methylation landscape
    Weinberg DN, Papillon-Cavanagh S, Chen H, Yue Y, Chen X, Rajagopalan KN, Horth C, McGuire JT, Xu X, Nikbakht H, Lemiesz AE, Marchione DM, Marunde MR, Meiners MJ, Cheek MA, Keogh MC, Bareke E, Djedid A, Harutyunyan AS, Jabado N, Garcia BA, Li H, Allis CD, Majewski J, Lu C Nature 2019 Sep 573 281-286
  • Books

    Featured 

    Sleep Apnea. In Netter's Integrated Review of Medicine: Pathogenesis to Treatment

    Rajagopalan K.N., Augelli D.M. (2020). Philadelphia, PA, Elsevier

  • Honors & Awards
    • Shock Society Faculty Research Award
      (2024)
    • Rockefeller Clinical Scholars Program
      KL2 grant (2021-2023)
    • Stony Wold-Herbert Fellowship Grant
      Recipient of the Stony Wold-Herbert Fellowship Grant (2021-2022)
    • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, T32 Training Grant
      Awarded the Ruth L. Kirschstein Institutional National Research Service Award (T32) from the National, Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) (2020-2021)
    • Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Training Grant
      Awarded the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Training Grant from UT Southwestern (2010-2012)
  • Professional Associations/Affiliations
    • The Society of Critical Care Medicine (2020)