Daria Peshcherova did her bachelor’s in Oriental Studies at Russian State University for the Humanities. During her undergraduate years, she was the Student Union chairperson, taught Hindi at the Indian Cultural Centre in Moscow and translated ancient Buddhist texts and a medieval Indian play from Sanskrit to Russian language. She is fluent in Russian and English languages, speaks Hindi, Urdu and German, and understands Sanskrit and Pali. She also worked at the Indian Embassy in Moscow as an intern and gained valuable international relations experience. She visited India twice as her university’s ambassador to foster collaborations with Indian universities and students. It was during these visits to Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Aurangabad and Hyderabad where she developed a keen interest in the local healing traditions and public health system of India. She enrolled in MAHASSA with an aim to develop a closer understanding of traditional medical systems and health-related problems of at-risk communities in India and Pakistan. She plans to enter the public health domain after graduation. During her masters degree she was working at the SAI Library to help digitalize old Hindi and Sanskrit texts for online academic databases.
