Nidhi Satiani cares. A principled and proven professional, she will seamlessly combine science with community values to ensure all students have opportunities to thrive.

Nidhi Satiani’s intellectual curiosity and fascination with the impact of seemingly simple devices or diseases on quality of life guided her 16-year career in eyecare. She worked as a scientist, clinician, and instructor in optometry, where creative thinking and problem solving skills are necessary. As an Attending Optometrist and Senior Research Associate at The Ohio State University College of Optometry, she worked for professors and with doctoral students, learning and teaching the nuanced ways scientific discoveries can be linked with patient care. Nidhi Satiani's trust in teammates and collaborative approach consistently result in quality work. As the Director of Clinical Services for two start-up companies, she helped develop a novel contact lens and an eyecare app.

A nurturer who enjoys patient-care, Nidhi Satiani's true passion is helping people create a stable foundation to pursue fulfilling lives. In private practice, she often provided care for patients who had more pressing, non-eyecare related concerns like drug addiction or income instability. She found the ensuing discussions regarding ways to promote and maintain health and vision were more satisfying than the medical side. This, ultimately, led her back to Ohio State to complete master's level training in public health.

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Nidhi is an active member of our community. She gave five years of time and dedication as the After School Discovery Chair/Co-Chair for Wickliffe Progressive Elementary. Her team grew the program's enrollment 30-fold and expanded course offerings to 20-25 courses each trimester. Additionally, she provides leadership with Seeds of Caring, a local nonprofit, empowering children and enabling impact on their local community through programming on carbon footprint reduction and work with the Broad Street Food Pantry. Nidhi is also collaborating with Franklin County Public Health to create a Community Health Action Team in Upper Arlington, a health coalition that will coordinate grassroots efforts and address community-identified health issues. Finally, she is honored to be the newest board member of Erase the Space, a local non-profit organization started by two teachers. It aims to give students the power to be agents of change through the facilitation of a writing program centered around repairing public discourse. Students from disparate communities work together and, through the process, build empathy and respect for one another's lived experiences.

A born-and-raised Ohioan, Nidhi's parents are immigrants from India who made significant sacrifices in the name of "opportunity." Her grandfather built the first girls school in his hometown in India ~70 years ago. Her dad retired after 35 years as an engineer with The Timken Company. And, her mom is an artist and substitute teacher in Canton City Schools for over 25 years. Nidhi Satiani was raised to believe in the power of an education, be driven by the science and logic that drives engineers, and be sustained by the open-minded perseverance and desire for continuous improvement that sustains artists.

As an Upper Arlington School Board Member, Nidhi Satiani will keep the “local” in local politics. She is a healer and a great listener who loves connecting with members of our community. Please reach out if you would like to meet in person!