Dr. Sanaya I.

Dr. Irani’s path to medicine began with an early commitment to service and academic excellence, culminating in a BS in honors psychology, a minor in nutrition and food science, and recognition as a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. Participation in Wayne State's MedStart BS/MD program laid the groundwork for a career shaped by both strong scholarship and deep community engagement. Dr. Irani received multiple recognitions during her time at Wayne State, including the Wayne State University Presidential Scholarship, Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) Award, and Fulbright U.S. Student Program Award. 

At the University of Michigan, Dr. Irani completed a dual MD/MPH program, taking a year to focus on public health research in epidemiology. Her research portfolio spans neuroscience, pediatrics, pulmonary medicine, surgery, medical education, global health, and obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Irani has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in journals including Academic Medicine, American Journal of Surgery, Maternal and Child Health Journal, Pediatric Pulmonology, Sleep Medicine, and the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, and has presented her work nationally and internationally. Her global health research in Ghana on numeracy and home blood pressure monitoring in pregnancy has been recognized with a Young Investigator Award from the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy. In Ghana, she also worked as an international research collaborator and mentor.

Dr. Irani has held multiple research mentorship roles. She worked as a research assistant in Wayne State University’s Ofen Lab at the Institute of Gerontology, focusing on neuroscience and developmental cognition research. As an undergraduate research mentor at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, Dr. Irani mentored undergraduate and high school students participating in pipeline and research programs, including Doctors of Tomorrow and Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program-affiliated projects. In addition to her work as a research coordinator, Dr. Irani has also served as a graduate research assistant at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the University of Michigan Medical School & Michigan Medicine in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Surgery, Pulmonology, and Medical Education. These experiences allowed her to mentor trainees at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and medical student levels.

Dr. Irani has also held multiple primary leadership roles in research, including serving as Lead and Senior Author, Project Lead, and grant-supported Investigator across medical education, surgical education, global health, and obstetrics research. Dr. Irani’s achievements have been recognized with numerous honors, including induction into the Gold Humanism Honor Society, a full-tuition Dean’s Scholarship for her MPH, and National Institutes of Health and global health research awards. Across her clinical, research, and leadership work, she brings a sustained commitment to compassionate care, rigorous scholarship, and advancing equity in medicine.

In addition to her research experiences, Dr. Irani has held extensive leadership roles focused on diversity, equity, and pipeline development in medicine. She served as Director of Operations for the Doctors of Tomorrow medical pipeline program, where she helped expand access for underrepresented students and co-authored nationally recognized work on virtual pipeline models during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the University of Michigan, she served in multiple leadership positions within the Student Diversity Council, contributed to institutional initiatives supporting student wellness and equity, and coordinated educational programming across the medical school.

Dr. Irani has led or supervised 15 research projects and has experience guiding students through research in behavioral and social sciences in health, neuroscience, public health, health policy, economics, and services. She also has experience guiding students through outcomes research, biomedical informatics, clinical informatics, and data science disciplines. Students she has mentored have been accepted to Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, Texas Tech School of Medicine, and the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine. Students she has worked with have published their research in Medical Dialogue Review, Social Moments: A Student Journal of Social Relations, and the Journal of Undergraduate Research.

Dr. Irani is known for her approachability, encouragement, and an unwavering commitment to student success. Her mentoring style is to see every student as a whole person and to bring both expert insight and genuine enthusiasm to each student’s research mentorship journey.

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