Personal
Born on 2^nd April, 1935
Married, three children.
Alla Venkata Rama Rao, born on April 2, 1935, is the first of nine children. His father, Mr. A. Subba Rao, was a state government employee. His mother, Mrs. Ranganayakamma, a house wife, raised and tutored all the nine children in a life style such as to understand and digest the problems of poor and middle class families. The influence is so much so that the values and compassion are even today cherished by him.
In 1962 Dr. Rama Rao married Hymavathy, who had a lion's share in his achievements. He has a tremendous love, affection and respect for her. They brought up three children, Radha, Ramakrishna and Chandrasekhar. Radha is a doctor settled down in Hyderabad. Ramakrishna is a MBA and helps his father in their newly established AVRA laboratories, while Chandrasekhar is doing his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in Cambridge, UK.

Education
Dr. Rama Rao finished his secondary school studies in his home town, Guntur, from the Hindu High School and obtained the certificate of Final Examination. His parents, perhaps proud of their son enrolled him in A.C. College, Guntur, for further studies so that they could stay close to him. Money was always in short supply for the family.Therefore, after the B.Sc. (Chemistry) degree from Andhra University in 1956, Dr. Rama Rao could not study further. To help his family expenses, he took up a job as a demonstrator at the A.C. College and later at the Agricultural College at Bapatla. However, he could not develop any liking for these jobs. He had a tremendous desire study chemical technology which took him to Bombay to the University Department of Chemical Technology(UDCT). UDCT was perhaps the best institute at that time, as it is now, for higher studies in chemical technologies. He saved during his employment a meager amount and completed the B.Sc. (Tech course in Pharmaceutical Chemistry) from the Bombay University in 1960. After graduation, his the then contemporaries chose to join industries with handsome salaries because there was a tremendous demand for UDCT scholars which landed him at NCL building and its surroundings were a love at first sight. He initiated the second phase of his career as a research fellow under prof. K. Venkataraman. He then aquired his Ph.D (Technology) in 1964 from Bombay University. During his tenure as the Director of the then Regional Research Laboratory, another feather was added to his cap with the incurrence of D.Sc. (Chemistry) in 1987 from Bombay University.

Traits - A snapshot
It may be mentioned that Dr. Rama Rao's reputation as an outstanding organic chemist of India led him to many assignments and invitation to give lectures all over the world. it is obvious that success in various fields was not a matter of chance or of gratitude but improvise the qualities of the man. His good health was perhaps the most exceptional gift God has given to him. His working capacity, his analytical and synthetic mind coupled with zeal are some of the tributes attributable to this man. The culture of Dr. Rama Rao was restricted to the scientific field. he has very few hobbies and you cannot blame him for that because he was totally committed to science and did not find any spare time to inculcate any.