Sai Shanthanand Rajagopal is a Tamil-speaking immigrant from Canada who was raised both there and in Tennessee. The Canadian Prairies and the American South helped inform Sai’s views on immigration, access to healthcare and quality education, and the ability to take an active role in government and legislation.
Sai attended Harvard College, studying women, gender, and sexuality studies along with biomedical engineering. As a biomedical device designer, Sai worked with a team to design an electric rowing machine for paraplegic patients and now focuses on designing safe penile prostheses for transgender people. In the future, Sai wants to work at the intersection of gender-affirming clinical care and policy. Sai obtained a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, continuing their work in prosthetic device design.
After college, Sai attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship and received a master’s degree in South Asian studies. During Sai’s time taking online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sai co-founded the Bridging Borders Project, a radio and online policy platform that brought together over 20 presidents, prime ministers, and global leaders to exchange COVID-19 healthcare policy insights. During this time, Sai wrote opinion pieces, telling the stories of refugees from South Asia in the Wall Street Journal, The Khaama Press, and Newsweek.
After finishing an MBA from Oxford’s Saïd Business School, Sai will matriculate at Harvard Medical School in the MD program. After medical school, Sai hopes to become a gender-affirming care surgeon, conveying the complex science of gender-affirming care in the media.
