Contributing Writer Emeritus
Albany Medical College
Hi all. My name is Karan Desai, and I am a Class of 2015 student at Albany Medical College. When I was born, my dad lifted me to the skies at our local community hospital (Simba style from Lion King), and proclaimed "This son will be a doctor." So, I am currently working towards fulfilling that prophecy. I love medicine, and the opportunities I get to help people in their most vulnerable moments. Outside of the hospital, I am also a health policy wonk, with positions within the AMA, NBME and AAMC. My other loves in life include the Philadelphia Eagles, the Northwestern Wildcats, goat cheese and tailgating.
With my Fisher-Price stethoscope drooping to my knees, I opened up my first practice as a young boy, working out of my family’s kitchen, my hours fluctuating with my nap schedule. I was a dragon-seeker bent on improbable rescues, and as I would fiddle with my tools, I would imagine a future where patients returned to my office full of life and gratitude. What I did not count on as a five-year-old—or even as a …
I watched the hospital room in its trickling display of lights—infusions, a ventilator and a monitor with its unrelenting beeping noises. This is what I had come to know of the intensive care unit. As doctors, we are told that we must live and work detached from our patients because emotions can cloud our judgement. But it is difficult to separate emotions when a patient who lies in a bed could be someone’s mother, someone’s wife or …
The nurse cracked open the door to say, “You have a visitor here to see you.” Abraham’s mother nodded, and the nurse turned to me in the hallway with words of permission to enter. I did so, hesitantly. The room was dimly lit by sunlight fighting its way through soggy clouds to shine on the window. The walls were covered with action heroes sprinting to save lives, while foil balloons hovering over the bed gave …
Chennai, India. “How are you feeling?” I asked an elderly woman in Tamil, the local language. She had recently been diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease at the hospital. I struggled to hide my excitement of finally being able to interact with an inpatient after three weeks of waiting for a “TB-free ward.” In the western world, we quarantine patients with tuberculosis; here they are one of the many patients in the general ward who are seen …
It was my second day rotating through the palliative care service at an Atlanta hospital. The first day, I rounded on the floor with the nurse practitioner. The patients were all ill, but none were in the last stages of death like I had expected. On this day, I worked with the physician on the inpatient hospice unit of the hospital. These patients were taking their final breaths; their care was about providing comfort and …
I entered medical school with the intention of becoming a primary care physician. In my previous years, I was an engineer and researcher, and my affinity for problem solving combined with deeply held interests in quality improvement, patient safety, integrative medicine and nutrition, naturally led me in the direction of primary care. Early in my third year of medical school, however, I found myself disillusioned. The primary care I had experienced was not quite what …
There are some cases you see in the hospital that compel or affirm your interest in a specific field of medicine. I have always been interested in infectious disease (ID), and I am known as “the bug guy” in my class. It’s an odd choice, and I am one of the few that I have met in my class with a true passion for ID. I admit that it seems a bit alienating at times, …
“Women shouldn’t be surgeons; it is impossible to find a balance between being a mother and a great surgeon.” These were the words I constantly ran into as I started to consider a surgical specialty for my future career. At first, I paid heed to these words and decided to become a pediatric cardiologist. However, before long I realized I just could not be a clinician for life. The idea of treating patients with medications …
Upon entering medical school, we all knew that we would have to deal with some difficult diagnoses, emotional situations and even death. In fact, even the earliest portions of our training were centered around a cold, lifeless cadaver that we cut into to learn the intricate anatomy and beauty of the human body. To a first-year medical student, gross anatomy symbolizes the profound meaning of what it is to embark on the long journey of …
I am about to enter one of the most exciting times of my medical school training — my fourth year. This upcoming year is a time filled with Step 2 board studying, elective rotations and, of course, the application process for the 2014 Match. This time is both exciting and scary because I will be working in specialties that I may never do again while at the same time selecting and preparing for a specialty …
“Leadership is taking responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty.” Marshall Ganz The first time I heard one of Marshall Ganz’s lectures, I was astounded. His topic that day was leadership in social movements and was informed by his work experiences, including his contributions to the civil rights movement under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. Ganz used his examples to outline five practices of leadership that we …
Family medicine is not something I selected once and took for granted. In contrast it seems that family medicine is a path I chose in the past when I studied public health, am choosing as I begin residency, and will continue to choose as I grow into the physician I desire to be. As with any weighty decision, the act of choosing family medicine along with the events that follow reify this career path thus far …
Contributing Writer Emeritus
East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine
My education includes a BS in biology from Whitworth University, a MPH from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and an MD from East Tennessee State University. In addition to family medicine, my interests include Christian apologetics and French, British, and American literature.
