Dr. Rao is a physician-scientist specializing in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology with a clinical emphasis on pediatric solid tumors and a research focus in using tissue engineering and biomaterials approaches to study cell-matrix interactions that guide chemoresistance in solid tumors. He is new faculty at the University of Washington/Seattle Children's Research Institute. He is proud to be the first faculty in the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders Research to be funded through the Seattle Children’s Research Institute Excellence in Research New Investigator Award, a program that supports faculty with backgrounds underrepresented in science, including those with disabilities.