Director, Center for Global Surgery, University of Michigan
Krishnan Raghavendran, MD, FACS, is a Professor of Surgery and the Division Chief of Acute Care Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is a board-certified general and critical care surgeon specializing in trauma, burns, and the management of critically ill patients. Dr. Raghavendran earned his medical degree from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in India before completing his surgical residency at Henry Ford Hospital and a fellowship in surgical critical care at Brown University.
In addition to his clinical roles, he is the Director of the Michigan Center for Global Surgery, where he leads international initiatives to strengthen trauma care systems in resource-limited settings. His global work is particularly focused on India, Ethiopia, and Taiwan, where he facilitates research training and capacity building through the Global REACH program. As an NIH-funded researcher, he leads the Raghavendran Laboratory, which investigates the inflammatory biology of lung injury, specifically looking at lung contusion and gastric aspiration to develop treatments for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and ventilator-associated pneumonia. As of 2025, he remains a key figure in academic surgery, bridging advanced laboratory research with global health equity efforts.