Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Program Archives

Pritha RaySircar

Pritha RaySircar is a writer, poet, audio documentarian, community worker, and an artist. She uses sound, words, cartoon, collage, fiber, and food performance to tell stories of (de)colonization, economics, identity, and immigration. Her current projects use family caregiving, menopause, and spinsterhood as lenses to interrogate allowed and conventional South Asian-American stereotypes. An Aspen Words Fellow, an AIR New Voices Fellow, and a holder of the Harpur Palate Award for Creative Nonfiction, Pritha is a current MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at the NYU Creative Writing Program, a poet at the Poetry Project, and studies short fiction with writer George Saunders alongside a worldwide cohort via Substack. She holds a postgraduate certificate in radio, podcasting, and audio documentary from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies; an MS in public policy from the Milano School for Public Engagement/Urban Policy at the New School for Social Research as a full merit scholar; and a BA in English literature from Barnard College, Columbia University.

For her Fulbright-Nehru project, Pritha is researching and documenting oral histories of sraddha habishyanno – mourning food recipes and rituals – in Kolkata, West Bengal, to create a cultural process archive for diasporic Bengalis. No such centralized, easily understood, engaging layperson documentation exists. As a writer, documentarian, and social practice artist, Pritha is preserving the habishyanno practice in audio, text and text translation, image, and video as a legacy conveyance and to spark future user-friendly diasporic artefacts. An audio documentary, multimedia installation, and spoken-word performance are also in the works. Apart from these productions, Pritha’s research is set to shape and inform an American anthology book project on hospice and mourning comfort food and ritual.

Aanya Ravichander

Aanya Ravichander is a recent graduate of Emory University, where she earned a BA in human health with a minor in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. A passionate patient advocate, Aanya’s research work centers on applying narrative medicine and patient stories in care settings. She has researched the use of language as a tool for child survivors of sexual violence and worked on mental health care access for both incarcerated and unhoused individuals. At Emory, she worked with laboring refugee moms and supported incarcerated survivors of domestic violence during their parole. A particular emphasis of her work is on how sociodemographic indicators, like maternal education and the Child Opportunity Index, impact outcomes for marginalized groups.

Aanya aspires to be a compassionate physician who accords priority to patient experiences in her care. She hopes to continue to unearth areas of research in the intersections of clinical medicine and the humanities. Beyond her work, Aanya loves to play the drums, hang out with friends, work out, and explore local culture and cuisine.

Aanya’s Fulbright-Nehru research project sits at the intersection of women’s health and cultural expectations surrounding motherhood. She is studying postpartum depression and abuse in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, unpacking how community health workers and mothers respond to postnatal mental health challenges. Aanya hopes to determine the barriers to detecting, diagnosing, and treating abuse and postpartum depression to better serve the vulnerable populations. Using a mixed-methods approach, the project is analyzing both participant interviews and verified mental health scales to assess how to drive equitable, patient-centered care.

Puja Raol

Puja Raol is a neuroscience student in the Honors College at Georgia State University, where she graduated summa cum laude with minors in health policy and sociology. She aspires to become a physician who makes community-health interventions through direct clinical care for underserved populations. As a presidential scholar, Puja has demonstrated exceptional academic achievement with sustained commitment to leadership, research, and community service. She recently received the Nell Hamilton Trotter Award, the highest student leadership honor at Georgia State University.
Puja’s clinical and community engagement centers on improving healthcare access for underserved populations. As an executive member at Shifa Clinic, a nonprofit serving refugees and uninsured patients, she has led initiatives to expand preventive care, including coordinating six mobile mammogram programs in partnership with Northside Hospital.

Apart from Georgia State University, she has had research experience at Harvard Medical School and the Emory University School of Medicine. She is a recipient of the Gilman Scholarship and several first-place research awards. Her interests lie at the intersection of neuroscience, public health, and health equity, with a focus on addressing mental health disparities in marginalized populations.

Since research in low- and middle-income countries accords priority to physical health, adolescent mental health in rural areas remains understudied, particularly in terms of affordable interventions. Puja’s Fulbright-Nehru project is examining adolescent mental well-being in rural low-income areas of India, focusing on scalable, low-cost mental health interventions. The research, being conducted in Jagadhia, Gujarat, in partnership with IIPG and SEWA Rural (a voluntary development organization), is leveraging local surveyors and community alliances. It is mainly assessing and implementing community-centered strategies, aiming to develop replicable, cross-cultural models that can reduce mental health disparities in India and similar global settings.

Siddhant Pratap

Siddhant Pratap is a 2024 graduate of the University of California (UC), Irvine, where he earned a BS in biological sciences cum laude. His academic interests lie in neuromuscular medicine, a field where therapeutic options remain limited and clinical understanding is constantly evolving. These interests stem from his two years as a clinical researcher at the UC Irvine ALS and Neuromuscular Division. In this role, Siddhant coordinated trials across the full spectrum of rare and ultra-rare neuromuscular disease, including muscular dystrophies, peripheral neuropathies, myositis, myasthenia gravis, and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). His portfolio spans interventional trials, including some of the first approved therapies for these conditions, and natural history studies that characterize disease progression.

Beyond his trial work, Siddhant helped establish the UC Irvine Biobank, an institution-wide translational research repository housed under the university’s Institute for Clinical & Translational Science. The biobank supports investigators across UCI’s clinical and basic science departments and has enrolled over 1,100 participants across 74 sub-investigators since its launch. Siddhant is committed to bridging clinical care and research, with the goal of becoming an academic neuromuscular physician-scientist dedicated to improving outcomes for patients with rare and underserved diseases.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease that causes loss of muscle function, mobility, and ultimately the ability to breathe. Siddhant’s Fulbright-Nehru project is establishing a comprehensive ALS registry at AIIMS, New Delhi, under the mentorship of Dr. V.Y. Vishnu. For this, he is developing and deploying a smartphone application that allows ALS patients across India to complete monthly assessments from home, as increasing immobility and travel costs make in-person follow-up difficult. The registry will generate longitudinal data on disease progression, help characterize ALS in India, and position India to host future ALS clinical trials.

Mahala Peter-Frank

Mahala Peter-Frank earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she majored in marine biology; microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics; and European languages and transcultural studies, with a concentration in French and Francophone studies. At UCLA, she began her research career as a research assistant characterizing microbial communities associated with floating algal rafts in the South Pacific. She later conducted independent research investigating the effects of dredging on seagrass-associated microbial communities in the Port of Los Angeles. Mahala has also contributed to research projects at the following institutions: the University of Southern California, where she investigated a novel coral bleaching methodology; at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she optimized picocyanobacterial collection and DNA extraction protocols; and at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she examined how parasite load influences sunfish coloration. Her long-term goal is to lead international, interdisciplinary research teams focused on marine microbiology and its applications to sustainability initiatives and marine natural product discovery.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar, Mahala is conducting research on the secondary metabolites of polar marine actinomycetes. These microbes are being isolated from Arctic fjord sediment samples and cultivated, then used to produce crude extracts which are being screened for therapeutic potential. Any compounds with anticancer or antimicrobial properties will thus be identified.

Avi Patel

Avi Patel is a recent graduate of Yale University, where he studied the history of science, medicine, and public health; he also had a concentration in global health studies. His research explores how cities, infrastructure, and environmental conditions shape human health; it focuses particularly on mobility, climate, and health equity, such as the case of rapidly growing Global South cities, where climate change, pollution, and unequal access to infrastructure increasingly affect everyday well-being. Across his research and fieldwork, Avi is interested in how urban design and public policy can help build healthier and more inclusive communities. His academic and professional experiences span environmental health research, global health systems, and science communication. Through international collaboration and research, Avi hopes to contribute to more people-centered approaches to urban development and health.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellow, Avi is studying how air pollution affects physical activity and active mobility in the Delhi National Capital Region. Hosted by IIT Delhi Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre under the mentorship of Dr. Rahul Goel, his project is combining geospatial pollution data with time-use and mobility datasets to examine how environmental exposure shapes walking, cycling, and outdoor activity across local neighborhoods and seasons. The project seeks to advance understanding of how environmental conditions influence urban accessibility, public health, and equitable mobility in rapidly urbanizing cities. Ultimately, it aims to facilitate the building of healthier, more equitable, and resilient cities.

Nikita Muthakana

Nikita Muthakana is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina, and a graduate of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, where she earned a BS in quantitative biology. During her time at UNC, she became deeply interested in both scientific research and education, interests that continue to shape her academic and professional goals. As an undergraduate researcher, Nikita worked in developmental lung biology, studying the role of extracellular matrix proteins in alveolar development through computational approaches. She presented this work in a proteomics-focused talk at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Through these experiences, she has developed a strong appreciation for research and scientific communication.

Outside of research at UNC, Nikita served as an orientation leader for incoming students, coached coed volleyball, and worked as a teaching assistant for calculus, physics, and biology courses. Working closely with students from different backgrounds fueled her passion for teaching and mentorship, thereby strengthening her long-term goal of becoming a professor in higher education. In her free time, Nikita enjoys playing volleyball, making pizza from scratch, and volunteering with a local healthy lifestyle clinic for children. She values all opportunities to form meaningful connections with others.

Nikita’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is investigating apoptosis inhibitor 5 (Api5) as a potential chemoresistance biomarker in Indian patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). She is conducting the project at IISER Pune under the mentorship of Dr. Mayurika Lahiri. The project is analyzing clinical samples to determine whether Api5 overexpression correlates with poor chemotherapy response. By generating one of the first Indian TNBC datasets for Api5, the research aims to support the development of more personalized and genomic-based treatment strategies.

Renee Muthakana

Renee Muthakana is a graduate student at Duke University whose work lies at the intersection of law, policy, and medicine. With a focus on reproductive health systems, her research examines how legal and policy frameworks shape healthcare delivery. Renee is a University of Pittsburgh summa cum laude graduate, where she majored in women’s studies and chemistry.

She has two years of healthcare consulting experience at a leading global consulting firm, where she supported health systems in the areas of operational strategy, policy implementation, and performance improvement. Her research includes peer-reviewed and conference-based work on global in vitro fertilization (IVF) policy frameworks, assisted reproductive technology (ART), AI governance in clinical settings, and the inclusion of pregnant women in research. Recently, she coauthored a peer-reviewed article in BMC Reproductive Health; the article is a comparative analysis of IVF policies across 24 countries and identifies variation in regulatory approaches while highlighting India as a key case for further study due to its rapidly expanding ART market and the evolving regulatory landscape related to it.

Renee’s Fulbright-Nehru research project is examining how India’s ART policies can be strengthened to improve the quality of care. Building on Renee’s recent coauthored publication, her project is conducting a national- and state-level ART policy review, alongside interviews with policymakers, clinicians, and patients, with the aim of generating actionable insights to inform policy development.

Dharani Moorthy

Dharani Moorthy graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a BS in molecular and cellular biology in May 2026. His academic and research interests center on infectious disease, diagnostic innovation, and expanding healthcare access for underserved communities. Dharani is a recipient of the Johns Hopkins Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award, one of only 20 undergraduates selected for this competitive funding. At the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, he investigates novel virulence factors in Trypanosoma cruzi and their regulatory mechanisms, using RNA sequencing, bisulfite sequencing, and mouse models to evaluate cardiomyopathy and infection dynamics in cardiomyocytes.

Beyond the lab, Dharani serves as a Hopkins Community Connection Triage Coordinator at Bayview Medical Center. He also writes accessible guides for bmorebenefits.com to help Maryland residents navigate government assistance programs. His research has been published in Nature, Operative Neurosurgery, and the Journal of Epidemiology and Population Health, with his Nature contribution focusing on antigen diversification in Trypanosoma brucei. Outside of research, Dharani is a certified EMT, a head teaching assistant in cognitive science, and a senior staff writer for the Johns Hopkins News-Letter, where he covers Baltimore’s local food scene.

Toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii, infects over 30 percent of India’s population and can lead to brain inflammation, blindness, and severe outcomes in pregnant and immunocompromised individuals. Current diagnostics often fail to distinguish active infection from past exposure or convey disease severity. For his Fulbright-Nehru project at the Indian Institute of Science Parasite Epigenetics Lab under Dr. Meetali Singh, Dharani is investigating how microRNAs, small molecules that regulate gene activity, change during T. gondii infection in human blood samples. By identifying those miRNAs linked to disease and severity, mapping their target pathways, and testing them in human cell lines, his project aims to lay the groundwork for earlier, more accurate diagnostics and therapies.

Sruti Mohankumar

Sruti Mohankumar is a recent graduate from Texas A&M University, where she earned her BS in psychological and brain sciences with certificates in behavioral health and the psychology of diversity. Throughout her undergraduate years, Sruti was involved in numerous research endeavors that centered on understanding how marginalized communities navigated barriers in education, employment, and access to care.

As a student in Texas A&M University’s Health, Empowerment, & Advocacy Lab (HEAL) led by Dr. Nguyen Nguyen, Sruti coauthored a paper (currently under review) exploring how the role of accents, which are often denoted as a key social marker, influence individuals’ perceptions of their own academic and professional capabilities, especially in a world where English is quickly becoming the dominant language in cross-cultural communication.

Sruti is set to begin her PhD in counseling psychology from Texas Tech University, where she intends to continue examining the intersection of linguistic marginalization and vocational psychology. As a future clinician, she hopes to work closely with South Asian communities, and believes that an immersive experience in India will deepen her understanding of culturally grounded perspectives on mental healthcare and help-seeking.

In her Fulbright-Nehru research project, Sruti is extending her previous research and employing a qualitative interview method to explore the nuanced responses to how regional dialects and accents within India influence both self-perception and social judgment. Given India’s vast linguistic diversity, she is particularly interested in how intranational variation in dialects and accents, which is often overlooked in discussions on language bias, affects educational and vocational outcomes.