Dr. Rao completed her medical training at JJM Medical College in India. She went on to do a residency in Ophthalmology at Aravind Eye Hospital and Post Graduate Research Institute in India, one of the leading eye institutions in the world. After her move to the United States she joined as a research fellow in the lab of Dr. Nora Laver, an ocular pathologist and her mentor who introduced her to the world of pathology. She completed her residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School Program and went on to be their Priscilla D. Taft Fellow in Cytopathology. She followed with a fellowship in Surgical Pathology at the UCSF Medical Center. She is the Assistant Attending in Cytopathology at the NY Presbyterian Hospital. She also holds an appointment as the Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Weill Cornell Medical College.