HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Dr. Darshana and Mr. Tushar Shah have called West Virginia home for nearly 40 years. As alumni, engaged citizens and community leaders, the Shahs are now giving back by endowing a scholarship to support future medical students from West Virginia at the Marshall University Joan. C. Edwards School of Medicine.

Darshana Shah, Ph.D., is a professor of pathology and associate dean of faculty advancement for the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, where she has served as a faculty member since 1995. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Science from West Virginia University and completed her postdoctoral work at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. She serves as the founding editor-in-chief of the Marshall Journal of Medicine, West Virginia’s first online open access, peer-viewed academic journal, founded in 2015. Through her various roles, Darshana Shah champions, at both the local and national levels, faculty development, mentorship and the team science approach for medical school faculty.Tushar Shah has 37 years of progressive experience in management, marketing, measurement, automation, and remote monitoring/control. He is the senior director of business development for Eagle Research Corporation. He received an Executive M.B.A. from Marshall University and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the West Virginia Institute of Technology.

The Shahs have two daughters. Preeya Shah-Adkins, M.D., is a 2020 graduate of the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, where she was president of her class. She is pursuing a career in dermatology and completing her residency at the University of Virginia. Anika Shah is a 2020 graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a master's degree in architecture. She is currently working in Detroit as design engineer.

“Both Tushar and I want to pay our blessings forward and support deserving medical students,” Darshana Shah said. “We are proud graduates of Marshall University, and I have had the privilege of being a School of Medicine faculty member since 1995. Our support is a small way we can give back for all we have received.”

The Darshana and Tushar Shah Scholarship is designated for an entering first-year medical student from West Virginia and is renewable for up to three additional years pending normal academic progress.

For more information or to make a gift to the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, please contact Linda Holmes, director of development and alumni affairs, by phone at 304-691-1711 or By e-mail at holmes@marshall.edu. For news and information about the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, follow us on Twitter @MUSOMWV, like us on Facebook, or visit jcesom.marshall.edu. 

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Media Contact: Michele McKnight, Marshall Health/Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, 304-691-1713

Date Posted: Wednesday, February 22, 2023