An immigrant to the United States at age 9, Janassa Kapadia winner of the Estelle Massey award, credits her grandfather, a physician in Bombay, for her interest in the health care field. She first earned a BA degree in Spanish at the University of North Carolina in 2005 and then went on to acquire a BSN at St. Louis University. Her work as an RN in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis gave her a desire for a higher level of involvement in care and motivated her to pursue a Masters degree in Nursing with a specialization in Nurse Anesthesia at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.