Saanchi Shah, MS

Born and raised in India’s city of dreams, Mumbai, I received my bachelor’s degree in Integrated Medicine from the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences in 2015. As an undergraduate, I gained clinical experience by shadowing and assisting obstetric, pediatric and general medicine physician practitioners. I then moved to LA to pursue my MPH in Epidemiology at UCLA and following graduation in 2017, I worked on a maternal and child health project in India, exploring the associations between prenatal exposures and birth outcomes, before I returned to UCLA in 2018 to pursue my PhD in Community Health Sciences. My research interests center around perinatal epidemiology and I am currently working on studying the role of prenatal exposures in childhood cancers in Denmark. As a current UC–LEND trainee, I am developing leadership skills to contribute towards making our campus autism friendly. I have been a teaching assistant since Fall 2018 and I am currently teaching my own data-management based seminar titled ‘Health: before, during, and after pregnancy’ using an evolutionary lens. When I am not studying, I travel across the globe drinking coffee and exploring new restaurants and cuisines, or spend time outdoors hiking/running, museum hop, practice yoga, cook Indian food and dabble in arts and crafts. Upon completion of my MS in Genetic Counseling and my PhD in Public Health, I aim to contribute to the growth and expansion of public health and genetic counseling in India.

Master's Research (Capstone) Project: Survey to determine awareness of and factors contributing to preimplantation genetic testing - polygenic disorders (PGT-P) screening recommendations by reproductive medical professionals

Department: Human Genetics