Grad Spotlight | Shibangi Saha
Written by Elisa Danthinne and Shibangi Saha
Where can ViTAL take you? Healthcare innovation can seem both narrow and broad in scope, but each individual’s journey through this entrepreneurial space is markedly unique. Our *Grad Spotlights* thus aim to highlight the paths our graduating members have taken so far, to demonstrate the diversity of directions one can take to make a positive impact in healthcare.
Featured here is our Q&A with Shibangi Saha! Shibangi drove ViTAL’s vision as Executive Director of the club from 2019–2020, after serving as Director of Operations and a founding member of the club. As a Northeastern undergraduate, Shibangi developed a strong skillset in both Biology and Computer science, contributing to mobile health research at Northeastern, biomedical cybernetics at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, viral gene therapy at Harvard Medical School, and clinical research and care at numerous hospitals across Boston (including Mass Eye and Ear, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Boston Children’s Hospital). Upon her graduation this past Spring, Shibangi has been working as a freelance healthcare data scientist alongside her Master’s program in Bioinformatics.
Q: What has your journey through healthcare been like — what have been the highlights or turning points throughout your time at Northeastern?
If you would’ve asked even an 8 year old me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would respond that I wanted to become a neurosurgeon. I would always receive chuckles in response. Of course, I knew how arduous this journey would be. However, as many aspiring physicians, I am determined and strengthened by my passion. My spark in healthcare continued to develop molded by life’s experiences. While growing up as a curious individual, I was rattled by medical tragedies and became more and more interested in the “why.” The problem solver in me quickly became engrossed in prevailing issues such as limited access, outcome inconsistency, misdiagnosis, and quality of care. With the rapid advancement of society and technology, it was clear to me that healthcare is in need of innovation to serve the evolving community. Therefore, my narrow focus of surgery funneled out to healthcare innovation, especially digital healthcare, which drove me to pursue my combined major in Biology and Computer Science at Northeastern.
Reflecting on my time at Northeastern, I was constantly supplied with the network and resources needed to kindle my passion in healthcare. Being with like-minded passionate individuals, I was empowered to work in research and learn more about this broad idea of “innovation”. As many pre-medical students, I dove my interests into research. I worked in a mobile health lab at Northeastern. This experience reaffirmed my combined major, despite how many shocks I received when trying to combine two “independent” fields of biology and computer science. Right while this internship was ending, my friends and I started to plant the grounds for a healthcare innovation community at Northeastern. This and further research experiences drove me to a special interest in personalized medicine, leading me to pursue a PlusOne for a MS in Bioinformatics.
This healthcare innovation community evolved into ViTAL, through which my network greatly expanded. I continued to meet mentors and peers who constantly inspired me to be curious. My previous leadership experiences seemed to be so foreign to this new role of developing this club and its mission. Deep at the root of our mission, we look to empower our students with the broad definition of “healthcare innovation”. This definition continues to evolve every day. Personally, I know it has evolved to take on an interdisciplinary form to involve biotechnology, global health, policy, pharmacy, business, telehealth, etc. Of course, this list could go on, but that’s exactly what ViTAL strives to fill in. At the end of the day, while I still want to pursue a clinical career as a physician, ViTAL has helped me to broaden this vision to be a bigger part in the holistic advancement of healthcare with an entrepreneurial mindset.
Q: Any specific memories of ViTAL you’ll carry with you?
My favorite part of ViTAL has always been the people I’ve met in its development. Be it the exhilarating speakers we brought in, encouraging mentors we’ve had along the road, or our passionate students, I’ve been continuously inspired. Working with such a diverse and exciting team often made “ViTAL work” recreational and a way to procrastinate other assignments. Planning for events on different scales helped me really broaden my understanding of healthcare innovation. I learned about fields and companies that I barely knew anything about. Especially, planning for the Husky Health Innovation Challenge truly showed me the potential for interdisciplinary roles in healthcare. While learning about our two themes of artificial intelligence and personalized medicine, I learned about the many perspectives of healthcare. Along with field knowledge, I learned the importance of proper planning. Oftentimes, we felt limited by a lack of funding, support, or simply teammates. This hardship helped us grow as a team and we worked for countless hours to make our events a success in emphasizing ViTAL’s mission of defining the interdisciplinary scope of healthcare.
Q: What’s next for you?
I will be continuing my PlusOne program for my MS in Bioinformatics while working as a freelance healthcare data scientist. In the future, I will be applying to medical school. I hope to continue research in bioinformatics as I pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a physician.
Q: What advice do you have for people interested in healthcare innovation?
Be curious! Oftentimes, we think we have it all figured out. As a motivated pre-health student, we are developed to think that the journey to becoming a healthcare professional is like crossing tasks off an eternal checklist: volunteering, research, MCAT, getting a high GPA, etc. On the other hand, there’s the preconception that an interest in healthcare must translate to a health science related major. Curiosity is what reinvents this wheel, and that’s ViTAL is for- sparking and kindling this curiosity. By being curious, we become more receptive and aware of the available opportunity around us and how we can get involved. In following this fervor, you may just stumble across your next big thing!
An excerpt of this conversation is included in the ViTAL 2019–20 Recap.
