Physician. Scientist.
Innovator.
Board-certified physician, MBA, and founder of Aahana Medical Aesthetics, practicing at the intersection of clinical medicine, Ayurvedic wisdom, and health technology.
Five gaps.
One practice built to close them.
After years across clinical medicine, health technology, and the skincare industry, Dr. Shankar saw the same failures everywhere in aesthetics: gaps in physician oversight, in precision, and in who actually gets seen at the highest level. Aahana was built to close every one of them.
The physician problem
In most practices, the physician signs the plan and someone else delivers it, sometimes without ever meeting the patient. At Aahana, Dr. Shankar leads every consultation and treatment directly. Not as a selling point. As the baseline.
Skin of color
Most clinical research and device testing in medical aesthetics has been conducted on lighter skin tones. Patients with deeper skin too often receive care designed for someone else. Aahana built skin of color expertise into its clinical foundation from day one.
LGBTQ+ care
Gay, queer, and transgender patients have specific clinical needs most practices are not trained to address. Aahana was built with this community as a primary audience, not a secondary one.
Gender and identity
Medical aesthetics has historically been built around a narrow idea of who its patients are. Men are among the fastest-growing and most underserved segments. Aahana is built for patients across the gender spectrum, with care that meets each where they are.
Precision medicine
The diagnostics available today are not being used in medical aesthetics at the level they should be. Most practices still operate on observation alone. Aahana applies the same diagnostic precision to aesthetic medicine that patients should expect from any branch of clinical care. Explore precision medicine →
Dr. Shankar published in dermatology during his medical training at Boston University, including two papers on teaching dermatology in skin of color and one on the ethics of isotretinoin treatment in transgender patients. That research is why this practice was built around the skin it was built around. He is also a peer manuscript reviewer, and his work spans skin science, digital health and health equity.
Selected dermatology publications
Full publication list on Google Scholar →- Skin in the Game: Taking Skin of Color Dermatology to the Classroom Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 2019
- Addressing Internal Medicine Residents' Discomfort With Basic Dermatology in Persons of Color in the Primary Care Clinic American Journal of Medical Quality, 2019
- Creating a Partnership Between Dermatologists and Geriatricians JAMA Dermatology, 2019
- “But doctor, I Googled it!” The three R's of managing patients in the age of information overload Clinics in Dermatology, 2018
- Unforeseen ethical challenges for isotretinoin treatment in transgender patients International Journal of Women's Dermatology, 2016
- Decreased prevalence of digital ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis treated with SSRIs Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 2016
Ready to meet Dr. Shankar?
Aahana opens in San Francisco in Winter 2026. Join the waitlist for early access and exclusive benefits for our first patients.