SD Shanti is a behavioral scientist, public health professional, pediatric dentist, teacher, author, and founder of Prescriptions for Hope, a nonprofit foundation established to improve the health of individuals and populations through broadening the reach of research-based psychology worldwide. Previously named the Global Alliance for Violence Prevention, Prescriptions for Hope carries forward the foundation's work as a public dissemination center for research-based psychological information on resilience, violence prevention, depression prevention, and the reduction of negative social determinants of health, such as illiteracy.

Earlier in her career, SD worked as Founder and Director of Woman to Woman International, as Associate Professor of Public Health and director of the DMD-MPH dual degree program (in Arizona), at A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, as Head of Public Health at FDI World Dental Federation in Geneva, and as a private practice consulting and counseling psychologist in Basel, Switzerland.

While at Stanford University, she developed innovations in violence prevention and health information dissemination that are at the core of her work in psychology and public health. She holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Vermont, a DDS from Northwestern University and an MPH from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with a concentration in maternal, child, and international health.