Ramaswamy joined the faculty at Ohio State University in 2006 where she began participating in clinical and translational research in breast cancer.[2] While specializing in breast cancer at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC), her research team received an Idea Grant from the non-profit Pelotonia to fund ways to identify breast cancer tumors by blocking a specific signaling pathways.[3] She later participated in a clinical trial which treated patients with bevacizumab, before it was revoked by the Food and Drug Administration for its potential to create life-threatening adverse events.[4] In 2012, Ramaswamy led a study which discovered that Hedgehog (Hhg) could promote growth in breast-cancer cells after tamoxifen shuts down the pathway activated by estrogen.[5] The next year, Ramaswamy received an Idea Grant from Pelotonia to research the effectiveness a drug ordinarily used for skin cancer had on breast cancer tumours.[6]
In 2016, Ramaswamy was diagnosed with poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast and she completed her chemotherapy and radiation treatment at Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center by August.[7] While undergoing treatment, she received a $100,000 Pelotonia idea grant to study the link between breastfeeding and risk for triple-negative breast cancer.[8] As the principal investigator, Ramaswamy and her research team examined the molecular changes that occur in the breasts after pregnancy and how a lack of breastfeeding leads to increased risk of TNBC. She also received a $2.2 million, five-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to continue her investigation.[9] She was subsequently recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the United States' exemplary physicians in breast cancer oncology.[10]
As a result of her research, Ramaswamy was appointed the academic chief of the breast medical oncology section and chairperson of the OSUCCC Clinical Scientific Review Committee.[11] She was also named the director of the Medical Oncology Fellowship Program in Breast Cancer for The Ohio State College of Medicine.[2] In 2019, her work was recognized by the Ohio State University College of Medicine’s Center for Faculty Advancement with the Outstanding Mentor Award for Associate Professors.[12]
Ramaswamy died in Columbus, Ohio on July 5, 2024.[1]
