waitlisted locally . Determined not to wait any more , he started looking for alternate options and found Ross University School of Medicine with its main campus in Dominica . He was accepted and spent the next 16 months there and then returned to the U . S . for clinical rotations in Chicago . As it came time to apply for residency , he looked at programs between Louisville and Chicago , as he wanted to be close to his parents . Luckily , he matched in family and geriatric medicine at the University of Louisville and made his way home . Internship was “ a blur ” with 80-hour weeks and a demanding call schedule . But being close to family made it easier .
“ Even at the end of 36-hour call , I could still go home , my mother was there , and I would have good food at home before I went back to work .”
To add to the challenges ( but with its own new joy ), at the end of his first year , he and wife Payal welcomed their first daughter . As luck would have it , timing that day wasn ’ t exactly ideal but as he said , “ Timing is never up to us . I remember being on call and her due date was right around that night , so I told her not to go until I was finished . But of course , 12 hours into call , she goes into labor . Luckily , I reached the room with about five minutes to spare when she was delivering .”
Another great joy for him in residency came at the end of second year when they could moonlight and work at places like urgent care centers .
All photos provided by Dr . Pancholi . Included in the photos are his wife and daughters .
“ I felt ready for it , but it was challenging to be on my own and seeing patients without asking my faculty . It was a lot of learning to manage time and just learning more and more with each patient I saw .”
Out of residency in 2010 , he started with Norton Healthcare where he ’ d work in various capacities until 2022 . While there , he completed the Physician Leadership Academy , which he said taught him a lot about the business and management sides of medicine , something he was always interested in . Over those years , he also did some work in Glasgow , Kentucky and during COVID-19 , did a lot of moonlighting in urgent care centers across rural Indiana .
He is now practicing with Baptist Health Louisville Urgent Care , but also takes some shifts as a hospitalist at Baptist Health Floyd in New Albany , Indiana . He sees them as two different , but important , challenges .
“ If I don ’ t do at least some hospitalist shifts , I feel like I ’ ll forget things , so it ’ s a skill that I like to keep up with . Like when I ’ m mentoring students or residents , I need to keep up those skills to be able to teach and communicate with them . I am in the process of joining the family medicine faculty at Baptist Health Deaconess in Madisonville , Kentucky . I really feel like I want to teach and be ( continued on page 32 )
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