Dr. Rajaram comes to Loma Linda University by way of her native country India. She completed her undergraduate work at Madras University in India and obtained her Master of Science degree from Home Science University in Coimbatore, India. She received a Research Assistantship from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana where she obtained her PhD in Foods and Nutrition. She was able to gain considerable teaching and research experience during her doctoral program and went on to a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. In 1994 she came to Loma Linda University where she is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Director of the doctoral program in nutrition.
In addition to her teaching and administrative duties, Dr. Rajaram has a significant role in the research activities of the department. She was the co-principle investigator of the feeding study comparing the effects of walnuts and fish on blood lipids and fatty acids, and co-investigator in two other nut feeding studies on almonds and pecans. She will serve as a co-investigator for the Walnuts and Healthy Aging study and was instrumental in developing the research protocols. She served on the Scientific Committee of the 4th (co-chair), 5th (chair) and 6th (chair) International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition, held in 2002 2008 and 2013 (pending) respectively.