Swetha Murali

Swetha Murali completed her postdoctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School under Dr. Jeffrey Holt where she studied the function of inner ear neurons and the development of a new generation of cochlear implants based on optogenetics. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Sydney under Dr. MacDonald Christie where she researched the neuronal changes underlying chronic pain and targeted them with non-opioid drugs. For this work, Swetha was awarded the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship from the Australian government, and the Professor John Irvine Hunter Prize for Research in Anatomical Sciences.

Beyond her scientific research, Swetha was a board member and co-president of the Boston Children’s Postdoctoral Association. She is a founding member of the Career Development Committee within the Boston PDA, representing over 9,000 postdocs in the Boston area. During this time, she initiated, organized, and fund-raised for multiple events to promote professional development in the postdoc community.

Swetha holds her Ph.D. in medicine from the University of Sydney, Australia. She received her bachelor's of biomedical science from the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she graduated with first-class honors and was awarded the university medal.