BIO
Although born in Bombay, India, Dr. Mody spent the first five years of her life in her family’s home village of Dahanu before attending a Catholic school in Bombay from kindergarten through high school. She was raised Zoroastrian and learned the values of respecting the world around her, living and nonliving, as well as valuing community. She attended college and medical school in Bombay, as well as a residency at KEM Hospital there, before moving to Houston with her husband in a somewhat sudden turn of events. After arriving in Houston, Dr. Mody applied for a job opening in pathology, despite her area of specialty being internal medicine, as she preferred to “do something rather than be bored at home” waiting for the next application season. Although it began as a way to take up time, Dr. Mody quickly came to enjoy pathology, and she has become incredibly accomplished in the field, with a focus on cytopathology. She is now the Medical Director of the Cytopathology Laboratory at Houston’s Methodist Hospital, as well as a professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. She still lives in Houston with her husband, and they have two adult children, one of whom also lives in Houston and the other in Denver. In this interview, Dr. Mody describes her unexpected path to becoming an accomplished cytopathology medical professional, her observations as an Indian American woman in the medical field, and her experiences building a family and balancing work and life responsibilities.