Meet Our Members: Shruthi Mahalingaiah, MD, MS
This month, we ask Assistant Professor of Environmental, Reproductive, and Women’s Health Dr. Shruthi Mahalingaiah about her research, academic journey, and career.
What research are you currently working on?
I am working on so much research related to environmental reproductive and Women’s Health. Type mom specifically I am focusing on menstrual cycles and environmental exposures during the menstrual cycle as measured in menstrual blood. I am also working on research that involves using large electronic health registries from my clinic populations such as at mass General Hospital and my fast full of Ed population of Boston Medical Center. Using address data we are able to assign a Geo location and then combine with geocoded exposure related datasets in a time varying way. I’m also excited about bridging the gap between large prospective cohort epidemiology and precision medicine at that I provide in the clinic.
What impact(s) do you hope this work will make?
I hope this work does increase awareness to start with and ultimately guides clinical care and policies regarding reducing environmental exposures and ultimately I would really love to see Women’s Health included in policy guidelines around environmental exposures such as air pollution and other endocrine disrupting chemicals.
When you were first starting out, what inspired you to embark on this path of research? Do you have any tips for young investigators?
I was personally affected by air pollution growing up in India. My main tip for young investigators is that the question guides you, and the experiences you have had inform the questions you ask. These are very important questions and I encourage young investigators to incorporate these questions into their work. The commitment to answering personally meaningful questions that include the population at large is what has kept me going.
How has our Center helped further your research?
This center has been foundation in supporting my preliminary work, including supporting pilot funding to perform first ever metabolomic and exposomic evaluations of menstrual blood and to determine optimal handling from the participant to the biobank and testing laboratory. The Center has also supported critical work to increase awareness about environment and womens health by supporting collaborative work with the Museum of Science Boston. We are working with the MOS team and an animator to create and test a short animation on the menstrual cycle, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis and the notion that environment and environmental exposures can inform menstrual cycle function and health. I look forward to sharing this with our groups soon.
Outside of the academic space, what do you like to do for fun?
I love biking on the Cape Cod National Seashore, baking with my kids, painting large abstract murals, and dancing in the kitchen.
If you could live one day as any animal (other than human), which would it be and why?
This is the hardest question. I think I would like to be a chameleon (mostly because I feel slightly reptilian already due to always getting cold if I stay still for too long).
