DR . WHO Rinit Pancholi , MD by KATHRYN VANCE
Walking into a Subway restaurant means two things to most people : 1 ) quickly deciding what toppings to add to your favorite sub , and 2 ) salivating at the smell of fresh baked bread as soon as you cross the threshold . For Dr . Rinit Pancholi , walking into a Subway makes him think of business – the family business , that is .
He emigrated to the U . S . from India with his parents and sister at 14 years old . Their family came to Jeffersonville , Indiana to join his aunt and uncle , who were established physicians in the area . Although his father came with a master ’ s degree in science and organic chemistry , his degree was not accepted here and instead of starting school over , he opened a Subway which Dr . Pancholi ’ s mother helped manage .
Seeing the hard work of his parents , he began to help out as a sandwich artist in high school and set his eyes on a future in business . But first , he needed to conquer assimilating to U . S . culture , and even though he ’ d been educated in an English-speaking school in India , it was a tough transition . Academically , he felt confident – ahead even – but socially , that was a different story .
“ There were 100 kids in my graduating class , and there was one other kid from Pakistan , but the rest were local . It took about a year for me to develop friendships and relationships and to know
how to approach and talk to people . High school is high school , so it ’ s tough for everybody , but even to find a prom date took a while because I didn ’ t know how to ask anybody .”
As he worked through high school , his sights were still set on business and when he stayed home to go to Bellarmine College ( now Bellarmine University ) he found a unique interest in theology , actually taking three years of courses instead of the one required , just out of pure fascination with the topic . During that time , he met Dr . Arthur Boerner , an OB-GYN in Jeffersonville and former faculty at UofL . Dr . Boerner held what Dr . Pancholi called a “ Bible clinic ” with people from all different denominations and religions , to meet as a kind of interreligious dialogue course . After many weekends attending the clinic , Dr . Pancholi got to know Dr . Boerner , and their conversations got to the topic of medicine and business and the strong intersection between the two . Soon , Dr . Pancholi changed focus and was pre-med . After college , he took a six-month break to travel the world with friends before entering medical school .
“ We went to India , Italy , Croatia , Eastern Europe , a bunch of religious sites . My perspective was simple : I knew I wanted to do medicine , but I wanted to take some time off . Of course , my parents hated that ,” he laughed . “ Travel like that really makes you realize how much we get entrenched in our lifestyles here . You go there and you realize how blessed we are and learn to appreciate what we have .”
Upon returning and applying to medical schools , he was initially
30 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE