Prathit A. Kulkarni, M.D. ’09, Res. ’14, Fel. ’18, FACP, is assistant chief of Medicine at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Houston, Texas. He is also assistant professor of Medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases at Baylor College of Medicine and serves as program director for the adult Infectious Diseases fellowship training program at Baylor. Dr. Kulkarni was born in Pune, India, and came to the United States at the age of two. He spent most of his childhood in Tyler,Texas, where he attended public school. He then went on to Rice University for his undergraduate studies, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry. He subsequently attended Baylor College of Medicine for medical school, where he completed the International Health Track. Thereafter, he did residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics also at Baylor, during which time he was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He stayed on for an extra year after residency to serve as a chief medical resident in Internal Medicine. Following this, Dr. Kulkarni spent two years working at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer. During this time, he also carried the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Public Health Service. While working at the CDC, projects included the following: involvement in the public-health response related to the Ebola virus disease epidemic in West Africa, outbreak control for linked cases of meningococcal meningitis at a large university and an investigation into a cluster of illnesses due to the toxic chemical compound methyl bromide. After his time at the CDC, Dr. Kulkarni returned to Baylor to complete fellowship training in adult Infectious Diseases. From early 2020 through 2022, Dr. Kulkarni spent much of his time responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, including clinical work, research, education, scientific lectures and public-health communication in the form of numerous media interviews. He also helped to establish the Post-Acute COVID-19 Clinic, of which he serves as the director, at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Additionally, Dr. Kulkarni has published 30 scientific articles and three book chapters and has received numerous teaching awards at Baylor. During his free time, Dr. Kulkarni enjoys spending time with his wife, a full-time chemical and environmental engineer, and his 5-year-old daughter, as well as reading and playing racquetball.
