Bio

Shonit Nair Sharma is a MD/PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is conducting his doctoral research at Mass General Brigham (Harvard Medical School) under guidance from Prof. Jeffrey Karp (MIT/Harvard), Prof. Katharina Ribbeck (MIT), Prof. Yuhan Lee (Harvard), and Prof. Robert Langer (MIT). Shonit’s research focuses on developing innovative medical devices, biomaterials, and bioinspired strategies to improve oral drug delivery.

Following his MD/PhD training, Shonit plans to attend a physician-scientist training program where he will be able to concurrently complete a residency in pathology and conduct postdoctoral research in biomedical engineering. Shonit’s ultimate goal as a clinician and an engineer is to establish a translational research laboratory in an academic center focused on solving complex medical problems through the design and implementation of innovative medical devices.

 

Education

  • MD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carle Illinois College of Medicine
  • PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biological Engineering
  • BS, University of California, Davis, Biomedical Engineering (2018)

 

Honors & Awards

  • Winner: Karp Lab 3-Minute Talks Best Presentation (2022)
  • Winner: MIT HST.524 Design of Medical Devices and Implants Award for Best Medical Device (2022)
  • 2nd Place: Harvard University Health Systems Innovation Lab Type 1 Diabetes Hackathon (2021)
  • Recipient: Carle Illinois College of Medicine (CI MED) Phase 1 Emerging Physician Innovator Award (2021)
  • Recipient: MIT Whitehead Fellowship in Biological Engineering (2021)
  • Finalist: Illinois Innovation Prize (2021)
  • Finalist: Fiddler Innovation Fellowship (2021)
  • 2nd Place: University of Illinois Graduate College Research Live! (2021)
  • Finalist: Stanford University Knight-Hennessy Scholars (2021)
  • Winner: Health Make-a-Thon at Illinois (2020)
  • 1st Place: CI MED Discovery Learning Pecha Kucha Best Research Presentation (2020)
  • Recipient: International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE) Student Travel Award (2020)
  • 1st Place: 18th Annual Research Day at UICOM-UC Best Research in Humanities/Basic Science/Social Science (2020)
  • Recipient: CI MED Travel Award (2020)
  • Recipient: CI MED Innovation Pathway Award (2020)
  • 3rd Place: CI MED Next Generation Rural Health Make-a-Thon (2019)
  • Recipient: Carle Illinois College of Medicine Scholarship (2019)
  • Recipient: M.S. Ghausi Medal (Top Undergraduate Engineer of UC Davis) (2019)
  • Finalist: University Medal (Top Undergraduate Student of UC Davis) (2019)
  • 1st Place: Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) CA-HI Regional Meeting Poster Presentation Award (2019)
  • 3rd Place: American College of Physicians (ACP) Southern CA Regional Meeting Poster Presentation Award (2019)
  • Recipient: Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research & Dean Keith Simonton Prize (Top Undergraduate Researcher of UC Davis) (2018)
  • 1st Place (of 106): UC Davis University Honors Program (UHP) Research and Innovation Award (2018)
  • Selected: UC Davis College of Engineering Student Commencement Speaker (2018)
  • Selected: Harvard University National Collegiate Research Conference (NCRC) Plenary Speaker (2018)
  • 1st Place: Harvard University NCRC Poster Presentation Award in Engineering, Math, or Computer Science (2018)
  • Recipient: Harvard University NCRC Plenary Speaker Travel Stipend (2018)
  • Winner: UC Davis Graduate School of Management (GSM) Little Bang! Poster Competition 2 (2018)
  • Winner: UC Davis GSM Little Bang! Poster Competition 1 for ‘U-STEP’ (2018)
  • Winner: UC Davis GSM Little Bang! Poster Competition 1 for ‘Ccolor’ (2018)
  • Recipient: UC Davis Undergraduate Research Center (URC) Fall Undergraduate Travel Award (2017)
  • Recipient: UC Davis URC Summer Undergraduate Travel Award (2017)
  • 1st Place: UC Davis Creator Challenge Series Best Application of Virtual/Augmented Reality (2017)
  • 2nd Place: UC Davis Medical Make-a-Thon (2016)
  • 1st Place: UC Davis Medical Make-a-Thon (2015)
  • Recipient: UC Davis Regents Scholarship (2014)

 

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