About the Founder

Aanchal Shah

Aanchal Shah is a member of the FSU COM Class of 2025. She has been a dancer ever since she was 2 years old and enjoys performing, competing, and choreographing. Aanchal graduated from the University of Florida in 2021 with a B.S in Psychology as well as a Certificate in Dance in Medicine. She spent all four years of her undergraduate career researching the connection between the arts and medicine through the Center for Arts in Medicine at UF. The knowledge she gained through the Dance in Medicine certificate program taught her how to use evidence-based methods to choreograph dance workshops for specific patient populations. She was an avid volunteer at University of Florida’s Dance for Parkinson’s program and Dance for Multiple Sclerosis Program. She later founded her own organization called Down to Dance where she used evidence-based research to help improve the fine motor skills, cognitive functioning, and emotional/social well-being of individuals with Down Syndrome through dance. Aanchal now serves as a senior advisor for Down to Dance and has helped it grow from a local organization into a national organization, providing free workshops to 58 different locations across the nation.

After seeing the impact Arts in Medicine programming had on patients, upon matriculating, Aanchal felt a strong desire to bring this to the Tallahassee community. She worked with faculty, the Chapman Foundation, and recruited 16 like-minded medical students to help create the FSU COM Arts in Medicine Volunteer Program (AIM). During AIM’s inaugural year, Aanchal and the AIM board worked hard to develop partnerships and community programs such as the Dance for Parkinson’s Program, Music for Alzheimer’s Program, and Visual Arts programing for pediatric and geriatric populations. As senior advisor, she works closely with each new board to assure the quality, expansion, and sustainability of AIM. AIM has now expanded to several locations across Florida including Orlando, Fort Pierce, Pensacola, Sarasota, and Marianna.

After joining the FSU COM Orlando Campus and becoming the first Indian to be crowned Miss Orlando, Aanchal had the honor of spearheading the AIM efforts in Orlando. In Orlando, she developed a partnership with New Hope for Kids, an organization dedicated to helping children grieve loved ones they have lost. AIM now hosts evidence-based art events at their facility to help the children process their grief. Furthermore, Aanchal collaborated with the Orlando Ballet to create dance tutorials in support of maternal mental health. The Movin with Momma’s series are dance tutorials that moms can do from the comfort of their own homes while holding their babies in baby carriers. These free and accessible dance workshops will be published on the FSU COM AIM Dance Database in May 2024 for moms suffering from postpartum depression/anxiety.

Aanchal’s passion for arts and medicine became the driving force behind her new published children’s book “Dr. Didi’s Guide to Anxiety-An Art Based Approach” available on Amazon. This book helps teach children about evidence-based art methods that can be used to help with symptoms of anxiety.