Viral Shah, MD PhD​

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Viral grew up in a suburb of Chicago. His first foray into science was during high school at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy where he had Wednesday off from class and went to do research at Northwestern Medical School. He continued doing research as an undergraduate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. This ultimately led him to the University of Iowa MD/PhD program where he worked in the lab of Michael Welsh studying Cystic Fibrosis. He compared airway epithelial physiology between mice, humans, and pigs to understand the main channels and transporters responsible for acid and base secretion onto the airway surface. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency training at MGH and is currently a Pulmonary/Critical Care fellow in the Harvard/MGH/BIDMC Combined program.

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What drew you to your field?

Science Rulz! But really a desire to uncover the fundamentals of biology and use that knowledge to help people.

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What do you do when you’re not in the lab?

I enjoy cooking, lifting, spin, salsa dancing, wood carving, and watching TV. I also enjoy my clinical time taking care of patients in the ICU.

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Describe Rajagopal lab culture in 3 words:

Collaborative, Dedicated, Fun