Darshan read pre-clinical medicine at Queens' College, Cambridge, and completed his clinical studies at King's College London. Experiences in the field (providing healthcare to remote parts of the Amazon, medical camps in rural India) inspired him to learn more about population health. A subsequent summer was spent as an intern in the malaria department of the World Health Organization.
During his Fulbright year, Darshan studied public health at John Hopkins, focusing on infectious disease epidemiology and humanitarian studies.