Indian American Physician Joy Saini and Family Killed in Plane Crash in Upstate New York
- The pelvic surgeon from Boston was on her way to the Catskills with her husband, her daughter and son, and their respective partners.
Indian American physician Joy Saini of Boston, Massachusetts, and her family were among six people killed when their small plane crashed this past weekend in upstate New York. Saini was accompanied by her husband, Dr. Michael Groff, and their kids, Karenna and Jared. Also in the plane were Karenna’s boyfriend James Santoro and Jared Groff’s partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte. The twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2B crashed on April 12 in Copake, new reports said, citing the National Transportation Safety Board. According to media reports, the family was headed to the Catskills for a birthday celebration and the Passover holiday. Saini and Groff are survived by their daughter Anika, parents Stephen and Gebena Groff, and Kuljit, siblings Rinne Groff (David Becker), Yram Groff (Merris), and Prashant Saini (Jennifer Cooper), and their extended family, according to Mid-Hudson News.
The Boston Globe reported that the group left Westchester County Airport in New York on April 12 morning heading for Columbia County Airport near the Massachusetts border. The plane crashed a little after noon 10 miles from Columbia County Airport in a “flat land,” the Globe quoted National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman at an April 13 press briefing. NTSB investigator Albert Nixon told the briefing that the pilot “reported a missed approach” and requested a new approach plan to air traffic control.
James Santoro’s father, John, told the Associated Press that the Groffs “were a wonderful family.” He lamented the loss of “very good people who were going to do a lot of good for the world if they had the opportunity.” He told the AP his son first met Karenna as a freshman studying at MIT, and was planning to propose to her his summer.
It is believed that Michael Groff was manning the plane. The Mid-Hudson News noted that he was “an experienced pilot, who fell in love with flying after being taught by his father at the age of sixteen.{“
Saini was a pelvic surgeon and the founder of Boston Pelvic Health and Wellness. According to the information on its website, she was a “highly experienced and respected urogynecologist and reconstructive pelvic surgeon.”Born in Punjab, Saini immigrated to the U.S with her parents, Kuljit and Gurdev Singh. She received her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she met her husband, Michael Groff, who became a distinguished neurosurgeon. Saini completed her residency in obstetrics and gynaecology (ob/gyn) at The New York Presbyterian Hospital – Weill Cornell Medical Center and a fellowship in FPMRS at New York University Medical Center.
Double board-certified by the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ABOG) in ob/gyn and FPMRS, Saini was one of the first women in the US to receive fellowship training in urogynecology and reconstructive pelvic surgery, according to Mi-Hudson News. She was among the first to be board-certified when the discipline became an official medical subspecialty in 2013. She was also a Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (FACOG).
Saini’s daughter, Karenna, was a former soccer player at MIT and was the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Engineering in 2022 from MIT and a Master of Engineering in Biological Engineering in 2023. She was a second-year student at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine and was accepted to train in the neurosurgery program, school spokesperson Steve Ritea told The Boston Globe. She was only the second MIT student-athlete ever to earn NCAA Woman of the Year honors. During her athletic career at MIT, she led her soccer team to four NCAA Division 3 tournaments as a two-time captain.
Saini’s son Jared graduated from Swarthmore College in 2022, where he studied economics and political science. He worked as a paralegal at DW Partners in New York and was weighing law school acceptances for the fall.