North Campus Selects New Chairperson For The Department Of Life Sciences, Health And Wellness

Sonali Saha started her tenure as chair of the Department of Life Sciences, Health and Wellness at North Campus on May 23.

The 52-year-old will work to ensure that the students get the best resources and opportunities to achieve their career goals. She joined Miami Dade College as a biology and environmental science adjunct professor in 2016.

“I’m really excited to be in this position,” Saha said. “In this position [I] can provide our students with the best opportunity…and give them the right resources for their advancement in the field of science.”

Prior to MDC, Saha worked as a senior biologist for the Institute for Regional Conservation for 14 years. There, she initiated research on climate change focusing on sea level rise and its impact on the coastal everglade ecosystem. 

Saha, who was also selected for the United States Fulbright Program, moved to the United States from India in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Devi Ahilya University and a master’s in ecology from Pondicherry University. In 2002, she earned a doctorate degree in biology from the University of Illinois in Chicago. 

She has also performed postdoctoral research at Harvard University, spending six months in Argentina studying the role of bamboo, forest dynamics and climate change in Iguazu National Park.