Tara Rajendran, MBBS MFA, is a medical doctor, award-winning classical Indian 'Veena' musician, and short story author interested in the integration of music into cancer care infrastructure; she founded 'Oncology and Strings', a lecture concert advocacy program. She commenced her traditional South Indian classical musical training in the Veena at seven years of age; she is a disciple of Venkitachalam Balakrishnan 'Veena' Potti (Kalpathy), who was a professor at the government Chembai Memorial Music College, Palakkad, and a disciple of Sangeetakalanidhi K.S. Narayanaswamy. She holds a bachelor’s and master's in Veena at Annamalai University, Chidambaram. Tara was awarded the President of India's 'Rashtrapati' Award (national award- highest attainable award in Scouts and Guides) along with a proficiency badge ‘Musician’ in 2007. She is a member of the GRAMMY U of the Recording Academy.