Aurangabad Woman’s Journey From Engineer To Doctor

Jhanavi Rao is 47 yrs old Doctor from Maharashtra. A qualified engineer from the US, she did her BE and then MS at 28 years old. Worked as an engineer and also started her startup in the US. Rao had everything set for her and was at the peak of her career as an engineer. But in the thirties, her life changed.

When Rao turned thirty, she developed Rheumatoid arthritis. Not just this, there was one of a family member who was suffering from chronic illness. Things changed over the time she was diagnosed and treated.

In 2003, Rao was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. She was doing well in her career as an IT professional and just had a baby. The diagnoses and the treatment made her realize the dedication of a doctor. It changed her perspective and mind as well. Rao decided to quit her very successful engineering career to pursue a doctor’s study. She started her studies in 2013 and completed her MBBS. Now she is pursuing an MD degree.

Rao received full support from her family. Even when she entered college at age 40, it was not awkward as everyone treated her fairly. The fellow students were easy to interact with. They were approachable and friendly. This is also one reason that she was able to spend her time well at the university.

She joined Ramiah medical college, Bangalore in 2013. She finished her MBBS studies and internship by 2019 and is now pursuing an MD Medicine course in California.

She feels that there is a great difference between engineering and medicine. In engineering, you are working with machine and have a chance to fix your mistakes. But this cannot be done in medicine. Especially while performing surgeries, there is no chance of making mistakes. What Rao specifically likes is interacting with other people. The feeling is so different. Here you are helping people as opposed to working with machines and gadgets in the IT field.