Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2013

Cedarville Magazine | 13 rescued me. It happened at a youth retreat when I heard the Gospel presented through the creation story. I heard that man was created in God’s image, and how man’s sin destroyed that image. But Christ came to restore the relationship through His blood offered as a sacrifice on the cross. These words resonated profoundly within my soul. On that day, as I confessed my sins and fears, He welcomed me into His family. It was such a joy to embrace my new identity as a child of God and let go of my past identity as an untouchable sinner. Plans for a Future After completing my master’s degree in pharmacology, I began teaching at a pharmacy school in India. During this time, I was challenged to integrate my faith into my profession for the first time. As part of my responsibilities at the school, I worked with laboratory animals, including rats, mice, and rabbits, which were confiscated by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). I began to question the origin of ethical values and their implications to science and research.This incident ledme to explore the field of bioethics, especially from a biblical perspective. There wasn’t a bioethics program in India, so I applied and was accepted into a bioethics program at Loma Linda University in California. After completing the bioethics program, I began doctoral studies in pharmacology. While studying in California, God used different faculty and staff members from my graduate school and local church to teach me how to worship the Lord with both heart and mind. I was greatly influenced by the godly character of my mentors, Dr. Ev Bruckner and Mr. Clell Rogers. Even in my research, which focused on understanding the contractile function of blood vessels, I began to see God’s handiwork through the complexity of intracellular communication. I began to feel the same sense of wonder that David wrote about in Psalm 139:14—we are fearfully and wonderfully made! As I came close to completing my research, God used two publications — Two Tasks by Charles Malik and Redemption of Reason by Dallas Willard — to call me to teach at a Christian institution. These publications ignited a passion in my heart to be a part of God’s redemptive work in academia. I asked the Lord to lead my career so I could faithfully proclaim Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). But God did not answer my prayer right away, as the University of Toledo College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences offered me a faculty position. I moved from California to Ohio to begin my teaching career. I began attending Emmanuel Baptist Church in Toledo, and was introduced to Cedarville University by the college pastor there, Paul Mathieson. The next academic year, I accepted a faculty position in Cedarville’s newly launched School of Pharmacy and became one of its founding faculty members. I was able to take part in the initial planning and development of research labs for the School, and was very excited to become a fellow for Cedarville’s Center for Bioethics. As I reflect back, I am amazed at how God has taken the challenges and uncertainties in my life and shaped them into valuable experiences. Ultimately, these experiences prepared me for my work at Cedarville. Together with my wife, Bethany, I am looking forward to investing in the lives of my students. I am passionate about Cedarville’s mission and vision, as it affirms God’s calling in my life. I am eager to see the Lord do great things through Cedarville University in the coming years, as it continues to stand for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Elisha Injeti is the Director of Research and Development in Cedarville University’s School of Pharmacy and serves as a fellow for Cedarville’s Center for Bioethics. He received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Loma Linda University. He has served at Cedarville since 2009. You may contact him at einjeti@cedarville.edu. Ratnamma’s daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Vasanta Rao, are pictured in the village of Visakhapatnamwhere they raised their son, Elisha. Elisha Injeti was one of the founding faculty members in Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy.