Hometown: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Undergrad: University of Iowa
Matched: Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic
How did you decide to pursue a career in medicine?
All of my life, as a transplant from India to the United States, I grappled with a dual identity. When I would go back to India, people would kind of recognize me as someone hailing from the United States, and then when I would come back to the U.S., people would identify me as an Indian person. So, I struggled to find a sense of belonging between my two worlds.
I did some volunteer work at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, and there was a particular encounter where I witnessed a patient who was close to death. There was a physician seated at the bedside just looking into that patient's eyes, holding their hand, and just being present with the patient. That really stood out to me as I was walking past that patient's room.
When I traveled to India as part of a course on palliative care, I noticed the same underlying principles at practice there. I would frequently see Indian physicians in the same kind of pose, seated by the bedside, holding the patient's hand.
No matter where I was—in the United States speaking English with patients, or in Kerala, India, where I couldn't speak the local language—I could still interact with patients in a way that I was just human, and I was present with the patient. It really speaks to the universality of humanity and how our shared humanity speaks a singular language. I finally found a sense of belonging in medicine for this reason.
How has research impacted your time here?
All of my life, as a transplant from India to the United States, I grappled with a dual identity. When I would go back to India, people would kind of recognize me as someone hailing from the United States, and then when I would come back to the U.S., people would identify me as an Indian person. So, I struggled to find a sense of belonging between my two worlds.
I did some volunteer work at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, and there was a particular encounter where I witnessed a patient who was close to death. There was a physician seated at the bedside just looking into that patient's eyes, holding their hand, and just being present with the patient. That really stood out to me as I was walking past that patient's room.
When I traveled to India as part of a course on palliative care, I noticed the same underlying principles at practice there. I would frequently see Indian physicians in the same kind of pose, seated by the bedside, holding the patient's hand.
No matter where I was—in the United States speaking English with patients, or in Kerala, India, where I couldn't speak the local language—I could still interact with patients in a way that I was just human, and I was present with the patient. It really speaks to the universality of humanity and how our shared humanity speaks a singular language. I finally found a sense of belonging in medicine for this reason.
How have teaching and mentorship shaped your journey through medical school?
Mentors really empower you to discover yourself. I had an amazing network of physicians in my hometown and mentors (shoutout to Dr. Stephanie Saey, Dr. Brooke Jennings, dr. Ramya Sampath, Dr. Jeremy Zhang, and Dr. Solanus de la Serna, among countless others) who not only guided me in shaping my personal and professional journey but also provided unwavering support at every turn. I really wanted to be that person for more disadvantaged students and other first-generation immigrants like myself.
When I started medical school during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were a lot of changes in my life going on: familial adjustments, social isolation, and the societal impact of the George Floyd incident and the Black Lives Matter movement. I had to look inward and ask myself: What can I do, as a medical student right now, that can help change the health care institution that I work in?
Through my work with the Teaching Distinction Track, I created a one-hour interactive session in collaboration with nephrologists and medical education and health equity experts here at the Carver College of Medicine. We delivered it to about 100 medical students here and at Des Moines University to delineate the differences between race, genetics, and ancestry in medicine, and how conflating the three in medical education and research has direct impacts on health care outcomes and perpetuating health care inequalities. We had an absolutely amazing response. Students in their clinical phases not only applied the knowledge, but also shared their insights with their preceptors.
What got you interested in internal medicine as a specialty?
Because I was so involved in research early on, I was kind of guided by data and numbers, and that's good to a certain extent—but it can only take you so far. The patient should always serve as the compass for guiding our medical decisions. What drew me into internal medicine was talking with patients and trying to layer medical knowledge with what they understood about their condition. Recognizing the patient’s perspective not only comforts them, but it also empowers them to participate in their decision-making, as well. Internal medicine excels in leveraging numbers and data to discover cutting-edge treatments, but I would argue that its true strength lies in applying this knowledge within the patient’s context, actively guiding and personalizing their care.
What are your hopes and goals for the future?
After residency training, I don't know where I'll be in the country, but I know that there are certain principles that have anchored me thus far and will continue to anchor me in the future: mentorship, research, and excellent clinical training. After residency, I'm planning to pursue fellowship, maybe in the field of gastroenterology, but maybe I'll discover something else that gathers my passion.
Wherever life takes me, I know that I can always go back to those three things that have gotten me here and the mentors that have helped me get to this point. I know wherever I'll go, I'll be successful.