Rajanya (Raj) Shah Peterssonwas a coxswain for the men’s rowing team at Brown from 1992-1996, after picking up the sport at Phillips Exeter Academy. After graduating in 1996, she went on to cox the women’s national team eight from 1997 through the 2000 Olympics. After the Olympics, she returned her attention to a medical career, by obtaining a Master of Science in Biology from San Diego State University in 2002 and graduating from Albany Medical College in 2006, during which time she did some assistant coaching for a high school girls’ rowing team.
Currently, Raj is Section Director of Pediatric Otolaryngology –Head and Neck Surgery (ENT) at Children’s Hospital of Richmond (CHoR) at VCU, and Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, VA. She serves on several committees at VCU and Raj is also a Recruitment Inclusivity Champion for VCU, having undergone their formal training program. Outside of her institution she serves on the Board of the Virginia Society of Otolaryngology and is founder and President of the Pediatric Head and Neck Surgical Society.
After a hiatus from the rowing, Raj is happily back in the boat at least once a year at the Head of the Charles with former teammates and has recently joined the board of Richmond Community Rowing, whose mission is to make rowing accessible regardless of background, ability, or experience. Raj is looking forward to helping support the national rowing teams, connecting with and engaging former teammates through this avenue, and finding ways to diversify the incredible sport of rowing in the future.