Dr. Reena Kartha, M.S., Ph.D.
Director of Research Programs
IndoUS Organization for Rare Diseases
Dr. Reena Kartha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Associate Director of Translational Pharmacology in the Center for Orphan Drug Research (CODR), College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota.
She has a Masters in Biotechnology from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India, and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Her research focuses on understanding the pathophysiological role of oxidative stress and inflammation in rare inherited metabolic disorders as well as the pharmacology of agents that target these molecular pathways.
She has mentored and supervised undergraduate, graduate and pharmacy students conducting directed research and direct the CODR research seminars during the school year. She completed a rare disease clinical research training program supported by the NIH Rare Disease Clinical Research Network and was the recipient of the 2017 University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute Outstanding Junior Mentor of the year award.
Her career goal is to help patients with rare diseases by developing affordable and accessible therapies, train the next generation of healthcare providers and increase awareness about rare diseases.