Dr. Renu Virmani is the Chairperson of the Department of Cardiovascular Pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, DC. She received her medical degrees in India and has held positions at multiple universities in the United States. Dr. Virmani has established an independent research program focused on cardiovascular pathology, publishing over 300 papers. She leads a department of 23 researchers studying devices, sudden death, and cardiovascular diseases.

1. Dr. Renu Virmani

2. • Renu Virmani is Chairperson of the
Department of Cardiovascular Pathology
at the Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology (AFIP) in Washington, DC.
• She is Clinical Visiting Professor of
Pathology at Georgetown University,
George Washington University, Uniform
University of Health Sciences, Maryland
University and Clinical Research
Professor of Pathology at Vanderbilt
University.

3. • Dr Virmani received her MBBS degree in 1968 from
Maulana Azad Medical School at Delhi University and
received her MD degree in 1973, from Lady Hardinge
Medical School, Delhi University, and India.
• She completed her training in pathology in India at Meerut
and at Lady Hardinge Hospital, New Delhi.
• She then came to the USA to NHLBI as a visiting fellow for
8 months and then completed her residency at George
Washington University. In 1977-79 she was a fellow at the
NHLBI, NIH and then moved to the AFIP as a staff
pathologist and was put in charge of Research.

4. • In 1981 she was appointed Associate
Professor of Pathology at Vanderbilt
University where she was Chief of
Autopsy Pathology and was responsible
for increasing the autopsy rate to 35%.
She also received independent funding
through an RO1 and the VA system.

5. • In 1984 she returned to the AFIP as
Chairperson of Cardiovascular Pathology
and continued to establish her
independence in the field of
cardiovascular pathology.
• When she arrived at the AFIP, she was
the youngest chairperson of a
department and the first to have a NIH
funded grant. She has aggressively
pursued both research dollar from the
NIH and private sources and has never
been without independent funding.

7. • Currently, she has 23 people in her department, who
are actively engaged in research endeavors. She has
established an independent stent laboratory that
processes at least 100 stents a month and evaluates
many different cardiac devices.
• She also has developed a state of the art
immunohistochemical laboratory which has helped
establish an international reputation in the field of
sudden coronary death.
•She and the pathologist in her laboratory have vast
experience in the evaluation of interventional devices,
sudden death with special interest in atherosclerotic
disease, right ventricular dysplasia, valvular heart
disease, vasculitis and primary cardiac tumors.

8. • She has published over 300 peer-reviewed
manuscripts, over 100 book-chapters and
reviews, and has co-edited five cardiovascular
pathology books, one cardiovascular pathology
atlas, and a fascicle on primary cardiac tumors.
She has developed an international reputation
regarding coronary atherosclerosis and its
relation to risk factors.
• Finally, she was recently selected as one of
the top 10 contenders for the prestigious
Berry Award.