Dhanalakshmi (Dhanu) Thiyagarajan (Thiyag), MD, MPH

Dr. Dhanalakshmi (Dhanu) Thiyagarajan (Thiyag) is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Affiliate Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan. She specializes in general obstetrics and gynecology including preventative medicine, prenatal and postpartum care, labor and delivery management, medical and surgical management of gynecology conditions, and contraception. Dr. Thiyag is passionate about ensuring her patients understand their medical care and providing them with the tools to advocate for themselves. Her research focus is on designing and clinically evaluating medical devices and simulation-based programming specifically for the goal of global women's health equity.

Her background is in biomedical engineering, clinical generalist in obstetrics and gynecology, public health, and global health research. As a clinician-scientist, she focuses on designing and clinically evaluating medical devices and simulation-based education specifically for the goal of women’s health equity. This is crucial as medical devices not designed for the context of use are typically neither sustained nor disseminated. Her device related projects include a device for urine-based HPV screening, mechanical rate-controlled IV infusion pump, device for uterine blood loss quantification and diagnosis, and adapter for fetal Doppler for continuous fetal monitoring. Her simulation-based programs include education around pudendal nerve blocks, external cephalic version, hysteroscopy, and gynecologic laparoscopy.