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Program Director
Methods and Technologies Branch, Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program
Telephone: 240-276-6913
Email: divir@mail.nih.gov
- Ph.D. - Biochemistry, Osmania University
- M.Sc. - Biochemistry, Andhra University
- B.Sc. - Organic Chemistry, Andhra University
- Population scale molecular and cellular analysis
- Technologies for low-resource areas
- Immune memory to decode the history of human exposures and pathological changes
- Natural anti-tumor immunity, immune resilience and competence
- Computational tools, including AI tools and LLMs for population scale analysis
Biography
Rao L. Divi, PhD, is a program director in the Methods and Technologies Branch (MTB). His responsibilities include managing a research portfolio and initiatives that focus on the development of methods and technologies to address epidemiologic data collection, study design and analysis, and validation of emerging technologies for application across the cancer control continuum. He is the EGRP representative to the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph); the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Research Consortium (CRC); the Identification of Men with a Genetic Predisposition to ProstAte Cancer: Targeted screening in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers and controls (IMPACT) Consortium; and the Prevention and Observation of Surgical Endpoints and Modifiers of Cancer Risk in BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers (PROSE-Modifiers Studies) (Collaborative Studies of BRCA 1/2 Mutation Carriers) Consortium. Dr. Divi is also a member of the InterLymph Coordinating Committee.
Dr. Divi is a member of the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Initiative management team. RADx was launched to accelerate innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing. He also serves on the management team of NIH Point-of-Care Technologies Research Network (POCTRN), and as a science officer for The Center for Innovation and Translation of POC Technologies for Expanded Cancer Care Access (CITEC
) and The Atlanta Center for Microsystems-Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies (ACME POCT).
In addition, Dr. Divi is the co-program director and contact person for funding opportunities on Assay Validation of High Quality Markers for Clinical Studies in Cancer (PAR-25-074 and PAR-25-075), Academic-Industrial Partnerships for Translation of Technologies for Diagnosis and Treatment (AIP) (PAR-25-337), Exploratory/Developmental Bioengineering Research Grants (EBRG) (PAR-25-321), Revision Applications for Validation of Biomarker Assays Developed Through NIH-Supported Research Grants (PAR-24-304), and NIH Bioengineering Research Grants (BRG).
Dr. Divi joined EGRP in 2008 from NCI's intramural Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics. Since 1997, he had been a member of the Laboratory's Carcinogen-DNA Interactions Section, where he focused on understanding the genotoxicity and carcinogenicity of cisplatin, tamoxifen, PHIP, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as the mitochondrial toxicity of antiretroviral drugs. A significant portion of Dr. Divi's work focused on identification of molecular markers, development of methods and technologies for the markers, and validation of those markers through intra- and interlaboratory collaborations. He used these molecular markers in collaborative studies that assessed risk in humans and animal models.
Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Divi worked for four years at the National Center for Toxicological Research, which is the research arm of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in Jefferson, AR. Here he conducted research on the antithyroid activity of drugs and environmental toxicants. He also worked for a year on an International Atomic Energy Agency project on health effects of trace elements.