Vyas Ramanan, PhD

Vyas Ramanan is a principal at Third Rock Ventures.

Vyas received his PhD in medical engineering and medical physics (MEMP) in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST) program within MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), combining his affinity for acronyms with a keen interest in improving human health. His work in Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia’s lab spanned virology & immunology, genome editing, single-cell analysis, and tissue engineering, which he weaved into a somewhat-coherent thesis. Vyas is a cofounder of the medical device startup Agile Devices, and worked as part of a team using drones to improve vaccine delivery in the developing world, which, contrary to popular belief, does not involve actually vaccinating patients from a drone… yet. Due to his affinity for puns, Vyas was booed at his thesis defense, a fact which he is proud.

He grew up in Cerritos, California, and dealt with his inability to make life decisions by attending a dual degree Management & Technology (M&T) program at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). At Penn, he conducted research in membrane biophysics and in polymeric drug delivery, in which his thesis on light-responsive electrospun polymer mats resulted in 1 paper and 3 shocks from a 25 kilovolt power supply. Vyas rounded out his college experience by singing parodies on stage in a gecko suit and interning at a venture capital firm, where he made up for his own cash-poor studenthood by trying to learn instead how to make use of other peoples’ money.