Sanjay Bidichandani received his medical degree from the University of Pune (India) and a PhD in Medical Genetics from the University of Glasgow (Scotland, UK). Following postdoctoral fellowship training at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he was part of the group that discovered the gene for Friedreich ataxia, he established his research lab at the University Of Oklahoma College Of Medicine. For two years (2011-2012) he served as the Vice President for Research at the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). He is currently the CMRI Claire Gordon Duncan Chair of Pediatric Medical Genetics and Professor of Pediatrics and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University Of Oklahoma College Of Medicine. His research over the past 15 years, funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health, FARA and MDA, has been focused on characterizing the genetic and epigenetic defect in Friedreich ataxia. He has served on the Medical Advisory Committee of the MDA, and as the Assistant Dean in the College of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma. In addition to being on the Board of Directors, he currently serves as a member of the Scientific Review Committee of FARA. He has mentored several PhD students and postdoctoral fellows, and has received numerous teaching and research awards.