Sharanya Sriram
San Diego, CA| Grant Category: | Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program |
| Project Title: | Characterizing Perceptions toward Social Support in Diabetes Management |
| Field of Study: | Public Health |
| Home Institution: | University of California- San Diego, San Diego, CA |
| Host Institution: | St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka |
| Grant Start Month: | September 2025 |
| Duration of Grant: | Nine months |
Brief Bio:
Sharanya Sriram graduated with a BS in molecular and cell biology from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) in 2024. As an undergraduate, she conducted research on the immune environment of pancreatic islets in diet-induced obesity and also completed a senior honors thesis on ribosomal protein differences in alpha and beta cells to investigate stress susceptibility in diabetes pathogenesis. Her global health work includes volunteering with street medicine teams to serve refugee communities in Tijuana, Mexico, and participating in the CATALYST program with the UCSD Bioregional Center, wherein she worked with agricultural leaders, indigenous activists, and policy experts to study how climate-related urban challenges impact community health across the U.S.-Mexico border. Sharanya has also studied in Bali, Indonesia, where she examined how indigenous Balinese healing traditions are integrated with allopathic medicine. Her interests span global perspectives on illness, community-oriented climate justice and resilience, and narrative storytelling.
As a Fulbright-Nehru scholar, Sharanya is conducting a qualitative ethnographic study across diverse clinical sites in Bengaluru, India, to examine how perceptions of social support in diabetes management are shaped by gender roles, rural–urban contexts, and beliefs in Ayurvedic medicine. Her research seeks to enhance cross-cultural understanding of the holistic and psychosocial dimensions of chronic disease care, and inform the development of tools to help healthcare providers assess and integrate social support into individualized treatment plans involving culturally informed medical practices.