What is your hometown?
I was born in a gorgeous little city in India called Tirupati.
How or when did you become interested in science and medicine?
My family and I spent a bit of time on the receiving end of free medical clinic services when I was a child in Cincinnati, Ohio. When I grew up, I had an opportunity to volunteer as a pharmacy technician in Cedar Rapids in the Jane Boyd Free Clinic. After about 400 hours of volunteering there, I could not see myself being involved with anything else but medicine.
How or why did you choose the University of Iowa to attend medical school?
I was an undergraduate in the department of biochemistry at the University of Iowa. The medical school building was right next door. I remember walking through the hallways on multiple occasions and the students, as well as the faculty members that were there, were incredibly friendly. There was a very strong sense of genuineness about everyone which always put me at ease. Also, I was really interested in doing a dual program with the University of Iowa College of Law. The University of Iowa medical school is one of the few medical schools in the nation that offers a combined program with the law school. Both the programs are well known nationally and extremely well ranked. The choice was an obvious one, especially that summer, when I was accepted into the College of Law and began classes.
Is there a teacher, mentor or University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine faculty member who has helped shape your education?
Dr. Peter Rubenstein, who teaches the M1 Biochemistry class, has always been a fairly avuncular figure in my life. I did my undergraduate honors thesis through his lab and I think that to say that I came out a different person than when I went in would be an understatement. He really helped me learn to be more assertive at pursuing solutions to challenges and to change situations, as opposed to accept them as inevitabilities. Working with him has been a very defining experience.
What kinds of opportunities or advantages does being a medical student at Iowa provide? What about challenges?
One big advantage of being a medical student at Iowa is how warm and accepting people are of each other. It is truly not possible to go through four years of medical school and not have very close, honest friends. The lecturers are top notch and internationally well respected in their fields, but are in no way stiff or pretentious. It is not unheard of for a professor to announce their lunch plans to the class and invite anyone to join them with questions about the lecture or requests of mentorship. A challenge in going to Iowa (quite honestly, I am digging deep here to find one) has to be the rather unpredictable weather. As the saying goes, ‘If you don’t like the weather in Iowa…..just wait another second’.
Please describe your professional goals and interests?
My primary professional goal is to find the most efficient way to help the most number of people. Beyond that, to be perfectly honest, I don’t know. As far as subspecialties go, as much I seem to fluctuate between all of them, I am starting to lean towards a pediatric sub-specialty or emergency medicine.
What are some of your outside interests?
My mom has very much been into Yoga for as long as can I remember. She exposed me to it at an early age, but being quite the hyperactive kid growing up, I wasn’t a big fan in the beginning. Lately though, it’s been very helpful in staying in shape and feeling centered. It really helps me make sense of my day to day events and figure out the best ways of dealing with them. Another very cool thing about it is that it allows me to challenge myself with a variety of advanced hand stands and flexibility positions.
Do you participate in any community service/outreach projects? If so, what are they and what have your experiences been?
I had a great opportunity to do an internship in the Office of Global Health Affairs through the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services over the summer of my first medical school year. This was set up through one of the College’s previous graduates who currently works at the White House. It was a very insightful, albeit brief, experience in the dynamics of the federal government and the United States’ international health care policy.
Do you have an insight or philosophy that guides you in your work?
Ancient Buddhist physicians believed that the role of a physician is to form a symbiotic partnership with the patient. They felt that this relationship was a pathway for them to attain sublime nirvana. I believe that there are very few occupations out there where one is provided an opportunity to realize how far they are willing to go to help someone else, and stretching this envelope, personally, is one of my goals in life. It definitely guides me at work.
If you could change one thing about the world (or the world of medicine), what would it be?"
Every other news story these days seems to be of a country, a corporation or an individual trying to further their own cause, sometimes in blatant violation of other peoples’ rights. If I could change one thing in this world, it would for people to realize how very connected we all are on a fundamental level. I wish people would realize that the concept of money and power, or the idea of global/social perception are very human inventions that have very little to do with happiness or feeling content. In other words, as cliché as it sounds, I would want world peace.
What one piece of advice would you give to students who are interested in applying to medical school?
It is very important to sit down with yourself and truly explore why you are applying for medical school and what you hope to achieve in life via the medical school experience before you apply. Not only will this help you out in the application process but once you do get in, this will form a good basis for further self-exploration and make you a more content medical student.
What do you see as "the future" of medicine?
I think that we are on the brink of a medical crisis. A whopping 30% of the U.S. general population is currently uninsured and this is all but underscored by the number of people with treatable illnesses, internationally. We are in dire need of overhauling the current system and for some solutions on an international level. There isn’t an iota of doubt in my mind that we have the necessary resources to make the paucity of health care access a relic of the past, but something tells me that the transition is going to be a bit shaky.