DR KALPITA RASHMI KARAN

Kalpita Rashmi Karan, PH.D

Post - Doctoral Research Scientist at the Department of Psychiatry (Behavioral Medicine), Columbia University Medical Center

BCH Research Scholar

Dr Kalpita is a post-doctoral research scientist at the Department of Psychiatry (Behavioral Medicine), Columbia University Medical Center. In her current research she is trying to understand how do mitochondria (powerhouse of a cell) and nucleus (the headmaster of the cell) talk to each other and what does that mean in human health and aging. Dr Kalpita also contributes to a pre-clinical study looking at patients with mitochondrial disease and their immune sensitivity.

She received her Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, India on a fascinating, but rare form of epilepsy known as hot water-induced epilepsy. She came to New York in the early 2017 with the hopes of exploring interesting science and culture. She combines her expertise in human genetics and molecular biology with some data science to answer challenging biological problems. Her long-term goal is to be a successful scientist and build a community of healthy (psychosocially and physically) individuals, especially in India. 

Over the weekends, Dr Kalpita has been mentoring youngsters from low-socioeconomic background in India (online via FEA India) towards their career goals. Her de-stress mantra is nature hikes, random discussions and good movies with her husband Dr Ankit (who is a chemistry researcher) or get into totally experimental cooking!

Mission Statement: BCH motivates me on many fronts. It stands for a) awareness and education-which is the first step towards understanding health and disease b) prevention and treatment -by early detection and c) social support- raising voice against social stigma around the world, especially in developing nations. I am passionate about these issues and respect the work carried out by BCH.

Email: kalpita.karan@gmail.com, kalpitarashmi@gmail.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalpita-rashmi-karan-8085a620

Twitter, Instagram: @kalpitark

Country of origin: India , Current residence: New York city