Grant Category:	Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program
Field of Specialization:	Medical Sciences
Name:	Ms. Sana Maheshwari
Official Address:	Cornell University, New York
Indian Host Institution:	Sri Sri Borda Hospital & Community Health Center, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa
Duration of Grant & Start Date :	Duration: 9 months July 2011

Brief Bio:

Ms. Sana Maheshwari is a recent graduate of Cornell University where she received a Bachelor of Science in human biology, health and society. She also completed a minor in global health and had the opportunity to travel to Tanzania with the NGO Support for International Change. There she taught rural communities on HIV/AIDS transmission, prevention and sexual health. She was an active member on her campus and held numerous leadership, mentoring, and peer-educating positions. She facilitated a cross-cultural exchange program between Cornell and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. Additionally she helped run her campus's Sexual Health Awareness Group. Throughout her undergraduate years she was a research assistant in a Metabolic Nutrition research lab where she assisted in studies regarding nutrient partitioning in pregnant adolescents. After Fulbright and upon her return to the United States, Ms. Maheshwari plans on attending Medical School and using her medical degree and abroad experiences to build a career around reconstructive surgery and global health. As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Ms. Maheshwari is associated with Sri Sri Borda Hospital & Community Health Center, Bhubaneswar. Her research titled "Determinants of Deformity Correction: Observed as a Complex Mode", will study the reconstructive surgery with the intent of observing the determinants of deformity correction in India within a pre-selected population recommended for treatment. Specifically, she is interested in how patients decide to undergo surgery and how their decision process influences their perceptions of physical "normality" and societal re-integration. She will study these questions using ethnographic and qualitative methods under the guidance of Dr. Santosh Rath. Through this process, she will construct a framework to conceptualize the factors that either promote or prevent treatment of physical abnormalities.