Mr. Rao is a former Health Secretary with the Government of India and a former Special Envoy of United Nations Secretary-General on AIDS. He has had a distinguished academic career with post-graduation in Nuclear Physics from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. He joined the Indian Administrative Service, the premier civil service of India, and held important positions at the state, district and central government level. He has spent his last 7 years of public service in the Health Ministry and drove major policy initiatives. He moved from the government to the UN system to lead the joint UN programme on AIDS in Asia Pacific region.