He was born in a Telugu speaking family in
Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh to V. Gumpaswami and V. Sundaramma. His father was a government servant. He received his medical education from
Andhra Medical College,
Visakhapatnam and then went on a scholarship to
Oxford. He became the Director of the All India Institute of medical sciences(AIIMS). and served the premier institute for 10 years 1969–1979). He became the Director General of
Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi. In remembrance of his great service, the Indian Government has decided to name the Indian Council of Medical Research building after him (Ramalingaswami Bhavan). He was also President of the
Indian National Science Academy. He was Special Advisor to
World Health Organization and President of National Institute of Immunology. He has served as Chair of the International Task Force on Health Research for Development in Geneva (1990–93). He was Secretary-General of the International Conference on Nutrition, in Rome in December 1992. He was appointed to the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada in 1999. ==Fellowships==