MEMBERS
DR . Who
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT MONALISA TAILOR , MD
Aaron Burch
“ I
have to start by Instagramming my food ,” laughed Dr . Monalisa Tailor , carefully aiming her phone over a fresh cup of Quill ’ s Coffee decorated with a beautiful milk leaf . “ Okay . Now I ’ m ready .”
It ’ s a quiet Thursday in October , and Dr . Tailor is spending her day off with GLMS . She just came from the Wear the White Coat Breakfast where she partnered with the President of Click IT Staffing , Sam Smith , to introduce him to their upcoming patient care shadowing time . Now Mona , as her friends call her , is sitting in the back of a Main Street coffee shop ready to talk about anything and everything .
Although Dr . Tailor is a Kentucky native , born and raised , she ’ s just one generation removed from living in Gujarat , India ’ s westernmost state . It was there her mother ( Indu ) and father ( Mohan ) lived before moving to the U . S . at the end of the 1970s .
“ My parents were engaged for five years , which is kind of unheard of in Indian culture ,” Dr . Tailor explained . “ Their goal was to get to America . If my mom had gotten married any earlier , that would have changed their status and delayed them getting here .”
Dr . Tailor ’ s grandparents arrived in 1978 with her mother and aunt following close behind . In 1980 , her father and most of their extended family were finally here in Kentucky .
“ My family had gotten in to the business of hotels and hospitality . You bring other family members in . You teach them the ropes . Because my uncle had a motel and my mom ’ s uncle had one as well , that ’ s what my parents ended up doing .”
Monalisa Tailor was born in Hopkinsville , Ky ., and spent the first five years of her life there , before her family moved to Bowling Green . There , they operated the Value Lodge , just a few streets away from the famous Corvette Museum . The family still owns it to this day .
“ I remember during the summer between first and second grade that my dad had to fly to India . My mom was running the motel with my grandparents . So , I helped my mom do all the desk clerk work . I was taking keys from people in the mornings . I was doing calculations for their credit cards . It was a good thing I had math skills ,” she laughed .
There weren ’ t any physicians in the family , but Dr . Tailor was encouraged into health care by the experiences of her grandparents . “ They had an Indian doctor whom they saw because they could speak to him in our language , Gujarati . I liked seeing their interactions , and it really became a positive influence .”
Dr . Tailor is fluent in Gujarati and still speaks it with family and friends whenever possible . Growing up , she loved to read history , as well as iconic series like “ The Babysitters Club ” and “ Goosebumps .” She also dove head first into politics .
“ I loved government . I was that nerdy kid at age 7 and 8 watching “ Meet the Press ” with Tim Russert and “ This Week ” with David Brinkley - not George Stephanopolos , but David Brinkley . I knew I wanted to be involved with politics or government in some fashion ,” she said .
Undecidedly heading to undergraduate courses at the University of Kentucky , Dr . Tailor settled on a major in political science and a minor in biology . As she applied to medical school at both UK and UofL , the political aspects of health care remained in her thoughts .
“ I figured that government would play a part in what our health care looked like , so I wanted to know more about it ,” she explained . While Dr . Tailor would have adapted to either university , a visit to UofL sparked an adoration for the city she would soon call home .
“ UofL impressed me . On our tour date , they had everyone sit in on a lecture the first-years were getting . It was completely over our heads . They were talking about the anatomy of the hand , and we were all sitting there thinking ‘ This looks scary .’ But I remember one of the girls turned around after the lecture and said , ‘ Don ’ t worry . I know this looks overwhelming but it ’ ll all be okay .’ It really eased my mind and made me feel like there was real camaraderie here among the medical students .”
Dr . Tailor donned her white coat in 2006 , began studying and was thrust almost immediately into organized medicine . “ I knew GLMS provided our white coats , and one of our class officer posi-
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Editor ’ s Note : Welcome to Louisville Medicine ’ s member spotlight section , Dr . Who ? In the interest of simply getting to know each other as a society of colleagues , we ’ ll be highlighting random GLMS physicians on a regular basis . If you would like to recommend any GLMS physician member to the Editorial Board for this section , please e-mail aaron . burch @ glms . org or call him at 736-6338 .
NOVEMBER 2017 29