Shanta S. Rao

Shanta S. Rao (28 November 1923 – 3 December 1979) was an Indian medical researcher.

Early life Rao graduated from Maharani College in Bangalore in 1943. She earned a master's degree from the University of Toronto in 1949, and completed doctoral studies in 1953, at Bombay University.

Career Rao's research started in the field of toxicology, studying proteolytic enzymes in the venom from various snake species. In 1956, she joined the Indian Cancer Research Center as a biochemist, and studied leprosy. and the presence of antigens in sperm as a cause for infertility.

Rao was a member of the faculty in pathology and pharmacology at Bombay University. From 1977 until her death, she was director of the Institute for Research on Reproduction, under the Indian Council of Medical Research. Contraception, Andrologia, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Journal of Urology, Nature and Experientia. In 1960, she won the Shakuntala Devi Amirchand Prize in 1960. In 1965, she won a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to visit reproductive physiology laboratories in Europe and Israel. In 1971, she won Bulgaria's Metchnikoff Medal. There is a Shanta S. Rao Award given in her memory by the National Institute of Research in Reproductive Health.