Avvari Krishna Prasad

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Avvari Krishna Prasad of Chapel Hill, departed this life on Wednesday, April 9, 2026. 

Dr. Avvari Venkata Krishna Prasad was born and raised in Hyderabad, India. He was also educated in India and received a Ph.D in Plant Sciences from a prestigious research institution in India, the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow.  This was where he met and fell in love with another Ph.D student and his future wife, Jyoti. They got married and relocated to North America with both of them working in Canada and the US. They had their first child Shravan in Canada and their second child Harish in California. They eventually settled in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where Dr. Prasad entered the Pharmaceutical Industry. He eventually got a job offer in Pfizer, a world-class drug and vaccine research company. While at Pfizer, Dr. Prasad made a major contribution to improving human health by synthesizing a vaccine to prevent pneunococcal pneumonia caused by a bacterium.  The vaccine was designated as Prevnar 13 and it prevented pneumonia caused by 13 different strains of bacterium in millions of people. To share his knowledge with the world, Dr. Prasad edited a book on designing vaccines with articles by world-class scientists. This book will remain as his legacy for future generations. After retiring from Pfizer, Dr. Prasad continued his vaccine research. United States Government provided funds to him to synthesize a vaccine to fight infections caused by Herpesviruses. Unfortunately he could not complete this project because of an illness which eventually took his life. The world lost a star who could have helped humanity much more with his discoveries. He is survived by the love of his life, Dr. Jyoti Prasad, his oldest son Dr. Shravan Prasad, daughter-in-law, Dr. Reetika Prasad and his youngest son, Mr. Harish Prasad. 

Celebration of Life:  10:00 AM, Friday, April 10, 2026 at the Lea Funeral Home Chapel, 2500 Poole Road, Raleigh, NC.

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