Third Year Family Practice Residents

Family and Community Medicine Residency Program

Third-Year Residents

		Ram Kafle I grew up in the southern belt of Nepal, in the district of Chitwan, in a village called Dharampur. Growing up in a village, traditional medicine was practiced: healers would prescribe herbs and roots and conduct ritual pujas to heal the patient. As I became more aware of health care, I realized the need for preventive care and evidence-based medicine. I was fortunate enough to attend medical school at Nepal Medical College in Kathmandu, Nepal. Being the youngest of five children, I have not only realized the importance of family but I have also seen the difficulties and various health care issues within my family. This influenced my decision to specialize in family medicine. Being so far away from my roots, I am fortunate to have two members of my family, my brother and my wife, here in this wonderful state, the state of Minnesota. Hennepin County Medical Center has been a great place to fine tune my skills and is the best place to interact and learn from the best physicians. I look forward to spending the next three years at Hennepin County Medical Center and beyond working in family medicine in the United States.

		Nazmeen Khan I am very excited to be a resident at HCMC. It has given me an opportunity to continue my learning process in medicine and to create a path way for those that are under privileged and less fortunate with adequate health care. In the future I hope to have a well rounded practice where I can help a diverse group of patients. Down in the beautiful Twin Cities from the suburbs of Southern California, this will be my first winter in Minneapolis. Looking forward to seeing the snow, I enjoy exploring different places and gaining new experiences that’s why I am here, plus tons of friendly helpful people. I have had the chance to live in a variety of settings, travel out of the country, and now to different states. After my undergraduate years in California I decided to go for my medical education/training in Poland and then Chicago. I was originally born in London, England but grew up in California and have had the privilege of making many trips across the border to Mexico. My Spanish is now coming in handy here with the Hispanic population of patients, getting a lot more practice. I am testing out a completely independent lifestyle away from my family, miss them, but still very close to them and always in touch. On my downtime from residency, I usually enjoy watching movies, driving around/getting lost, eating desserts (especially anything with chocolate)/trying different kinds of food, nature, listening to music, browsing the net, any fun kind of activity/exercise, and nowadays my sleep. I always try stuff at least once and keep repeating it if I really enjoy it. I am an easy going person, adventurous at times, love variety, and not too particular. I love animals, especially dogs, dolphins, and monkeys. That's me in a nutshell.

		Uchemadu Nwaononiwu My name is Uchemadu Nwaononiwu, a tongue twister if you aren’t from a particular part of Nigeria, so everybody justcalls me Uche, makes life easier. Visited Minnesota briefly in 2005 from Nigeria and fell in love with the city and the fantastic outdoor life, returned in 2008 to start an MPH program at the U of Minnesota (could not resist the Twin Cities). HCMC was the icing on the cake, it is "THE" county hospital where every pathology in the world is available to learn from. I have been described as calm and somewhat quiet. I love the outdoors, traveling, writing and hanging out with friends and family. Whenever the weather comes up, I always remind people about John Ruskin's famous quote 'Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces up, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather', or what do you think?

		Abhijeet Patil Hi Friends! I am Abhijeet. I was born and raised in a small town ‘Beed’ in India. With intent to study medicine and passion to help others, I joined the medical school at Grant Medical College in Mumbai. Then I went to Miami University in Ohio where I obtained two Master degrees, Exercise & Health Studies’ and ‘Sport Psychology’. I chose to pursue challenging and rewarding Family Medicine career because I believe in continuity care for my patients and committed service to community. I was thrilled to find this program at HCMC that would help me to emphasize my personal, intellectual and mental growth and provide me with healthy happy working environment. My interests are sports medicine, geriatrics and integrated & holistic approach to healthcare. My hobbies are playing and watching sports (my favorites are cricket, badminton and tennis), drawing, traveling, meeting new people and reading news.

		Ajit Sandhar Hello, I am Ajit Sandhar. I was born in India and moved to Canada when I was 14 years old. Throughout high school and college I went through a phase where I wanted to be everything and anything. It was in college when I realized that medicine is the right fit for me. I attended University of Saint Eustatius in Netherlands, Antilles. I chose family medicine at Hennepin County because of the diversity both in residents and in patient population. Staff and faculty are there for you whenever needed. Minneapolis is a wonderful city with things to do during all seasons. In my spare time, I like to go out and explore the city.

		Guninder Bir Sandhu I am a graduate of SGRDIMSAR Amritsar, India. I love to be at Hennepin/FMC because of compassionate patient care,a friendly and caring place to work at. Also, I am surrounded by an excellent faculty who love teaching and give me an opportunity to do things on a daily basis, the senior residents who look out for each other, and who know how to make residency enjoyable. Both FM inpatient service and Clinic provide an opportunity to deal with a diverse population, you actually see a lot of patients about whom people just read in books.

		Janmeet Sandhu Medical School: Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner, India. I am interested in the full spectrum of family medicine along with special interest in procedures, women health, diabetes and emergency medicine. I chose this program because I was impressed by welcoming attitude of residents who fun loving and energetic and diverse background of faculty experience. Other things which I love are extremely nice place to be at with dedicated teaching environment, wide variety of patient population and lots of opportunity to do variety of procedures.

		Harish Siddaiah I began my life journey in a beautiful city called Bangalore located in India. I graduated from one of the premier medical schools located in the same city. I grew up enjoying the outdoors and have always loved to travel, meet new people from different cultures from all over the world, learn more about their language, culture and traditions, so after medical school decided to pursue my higher studies in US which is a melting pot of different cultures. I worked for 2 years as a research fellow at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio doing cancer research before joining family medicine program at HCMC. I’m thrilled to work at HCMC under the tutelage of excellent staff, the diverse patient population and variety of academic training opportunities make me feel confident that I will be prepared to practice in either rural or urban settings. My special interests in the field of medicine lie on the 2 ends of spectrum of patient population ie: pediatrics and geriatrics. I’m also attracted to the field of cancer prevention and research, alternativemedicine, medical education, health reforms and policy. My interests outside the field of medicine are varied; I do like watching and playing sports, hiking, biking, yoga and mediation. I’m also passionate about theatre, music, films. Living in the fun city of Minneapolis has helped me to pursue my hobbies.

		Jayasree Tatagari Hello Friends, I am Jayasree. I was born and raised in Anantapur, in South India; I graduated from Kurnool medical college, Kurnool. I choose family practice, because I believe family medicine as an opportunity to build up strong doctor-patient relationship and it emphasizes caring for the whole person, rather than simply treating isolated health problems. I was looking for a residency program with high quality training, exposure to wide spectrum of patients, and a nice location with eminent faculty, HCMC has all these opportunities. I also liked the diverse yet friendly and supporting residents at HCMC. My clinical interests are in women's and children's health issues while my research interests are in patient care in the communities and public health. I am planning to pursue a fellowship in geriatrics before going into clinical practice. In my free time, I love spending time with my family & friends, cooking, gardening and traveling.

		Pankaj Timsina Family Status: Married Hobbies: Watching movies and Sports of any kind, travelling, hiking. Of Special Note: I was born and raised in Kathmandu, the capital city of the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal . After graduating from medical school, I worked in the refugee camps run by the United Nations where I learned the importance of primary care. To grow professionally and personally I decided to pursue higher education in the United States. I moved to Minnesota as I feel this place as my home and I am really fascinated by the outdoor activities it offers. The program offers approachable faculty and diverse group of friendly residents who work together as a team to create the best possible learning environment. I am really proud to be a part of this great organization.