Resident of the Month

Dr. Hiba Narvel “I would like to nominate Dr. Hiba Narvel for Block 7 Resident of the Month. Hiba did an amazing job in taking care of a team that was near constantly at capacity by knowing each patient exceptionally well, anticipating problems and interceding in a very timely manner, efficiently caring for patients such that they could be discharged in an optimal time frame and forming tight bonds with all of her patients and their families. Hiba demonstrated exceptional bed side manners and communication skills several times during the days I worked with her. Hiba was also excellent at service recovery. Once case in particular occurred late on a Friday where the patient’s daughter was upset. Hiba and our team went directly to the patient’s bed side. Hiba led the discussion and developed trust and respect with the daughter such that the daughter was very satisfied and her anger had dissipated. Hiba was also an outstanding Team Leader and worked exceptionally well with the PGY1 Residents and two 3rd year medical students. Hiba also has an exemplary and role-model work ethic and always remained calm and focused no matter what the situation was. Therefore, in my opinion, Dr. Hiba Narvel is deserving to be The Jacobi Medical Center Resident of the Month for Block 7!”

Dr. Panagiotis Zoumpourlis “Pangiotis Zoumpourlis - he has reached out to me after his Ambu blocks (2 different blocks) to discuss abnormal labs. We do have a coverage system but it is great that he is checking the labs even though he is on non-ambu blocks. It shows that he is taking ownership of his patients. It would be great if more residents (despite the coverage system) would show this level of ownership/engagement with their patients' follow up. Even on ambu block and even with ‘inbasket’ time, there are residents who are not rising to the challenge consistently.”

Dr. Crystal Chen “Dr. Crystal Chen was my resident in an inpatient medicine team for 2 weeks. During that time, Crystal provided high-level of medical care to a very busy service that had an average of 4.5 admissions and 4.5 discharges per weekday. Crystal supported our interns tremendously, ensured that patients and families were constantly in the loop, coordinated with other colleagues and staff artfully, and found time to demonstrate teaching points even when no time existed. Crystal practiced medicine very efficiently, effectively, and safely as someone would expect from a PGY3 at the end of their training. She mostly deserves to be recognized for her hard work, positive attitude, and the high value she adds to our program, department, and institution.”

Dr. Gustavo Duarte “I would like to nominate Gustavo Duarte- I think Gustavo is an amazing resident and will be an amazing fellow- he shows complete dedication to his work and everything he does and is very professional. In clinic, he is known to be always on top of his patients results and his inbasket. He shows true dedication to the patients and genuine concern- he had a patient with positive FOBT and he wanted to make sure the patient was reached out appropriately and got the message- so he took 4 ways to reach the patient, since the patient didn't pick up the phone- besides leaving a phone voicemail and reaching through mychart and a letter, he actually reached out to me he wanted to send a telegram to the patient, which would be a more urgent way to reach the patient! He is just amazing and goes above and beyond his care for the patients. Not to mention he is always extremely professional in the way he interacts with patients and housestaff!”

Dr. Rahul Thakur “I would like to nominate Rahul Thakur as resident of the month. I worked with him for a short time in the beginning of this block. He set expectations very well at the beginning of the rotation, and oriented the new interns and medical students to a variety of tips that were essential for being on floors for the first time. Even as an early PGY2, he had a developed plan for each patient prior to me entering the room. Even more, he often had already set the plan in motion, enabling the team to run efficiently. He was a leader to the rest of team. He seemed to be doing 10 things at once most the time, but giving his undivided attention somehow to each task. His ability to manage a team effortlessly this early, leadership and teaching qualities, very hard working personality, and constant positive demeanor makes him an excellent candidate for the ROM.”

Dr. Fatema Ezzy “I would like to nominate Fatema for resident of the month, as she has been doing a great job in taking care of her patients. Two traits that stand out are her ownership of her patients and patient-care advocacy. Once, we had a complex patient with liver mass causing obstruction of bile, who needed decompression of biliary system by IR. IR was hesitant to do due to his elevated INR and high bleeding risk. She explained to them the patient is deteriorating due to biliary obstruction and did such a good job conveying the clinical picture, patient went for decompression the same day. I also recall a couple of other instances where she recognized clinical deterioration and intervened early, a COVID patient with hypotension and a patient with Rt hemiplegia and epilepsy. Her performance is above what you would expect from someone at this stage of their residency.”

Dr. Rama Al Hamed “I nominate Dr. Rama Al Hamed. Rama is a role model resident and role model physician. Rama knows every detail of every patient including their social and family issues and concerns. In addition, Rama is very pro-active and is totally on top of every case always thinking ahead. Rama is most dedicated to the care of her patients and goes above and beyond the call of duty every single day to make sure each and every patient receives the absolute best care possible. Rama is also a great teacher for the PGY-1 residents.”

Dr. Gopisree Peringeth “She did a week of medical consult with me and I was very impressed with her willingness to do whatever it took to get all the information concerning a patient and to take care of the patient. She has an excellent fund of knowledge and always is professional and respectful towards everyone and really did a great job handling the work with aplomb as a PGY II.”

Dr. Prasanth Balasubramanian “I want to nominate Prashanth B. He worked with me last month in ID. He worked tirelessly and always kept a sense of humor . His work was thorough and complete. Prashant is so bright, yet so humble. He is compassionate and just a delight to work with. It was fantastic to work with him as a third year as I started with him as his ID attending when he was an intern on his first day! To see both his professional and personal growth has been amazing. He worked like a seasoned fellow on the ID elective.”

Dr. Gopisree Peringeth “I nominate Gopisree Peringeth. We had very complicated SLE patient that she managed and treated during her floor rotation , unfortunately patient declined and was transferred to ICU later. She is great role model for interns and residents, she coordinated care among multiple specialties following the patient, arranged stat imaging CT scan needed for the patient , communicated with family and patient when patient got very confused and required sedation. She demonstrated great knowledge, communication skills , functioned at much higher level then expected for the residents and demonstrated compassionate care for her patient and her family."

Dr. Stepan Esagian “I want to nominate Stepan, he has done an amazing job on his floor rotation. During our time working together, he went above and beyond to ensure our patient receives the best care possible, always bringing important information to rounds, sharing teaching points and interesting physical exam findings, he has offer to present on multiple occasions, has an excellent background of knowledge. He has been a great role model to his peers, doing an outstanding job coordinating care with consultants and family for one of our poor prognosis patients, displaying leadership, empathy, and good communication skills. Stepan is supportive and calm, an exceptional asset to the team!”

Dr. Elif Karatas “I would like to nominate Dr. Elif Karatas for ‘resident of the month’. During the time we worked together in this past month, Elif went above and beyond to ensure that our patients get the best possible care and our interns and student get the best possible educational experience. Elif's maturity, proactivity, and open communication were educational for the rest of us in the team. Dr. Karatas is an ideal role model for our program.”

Dr. Adrija Hajra “I wanted to nominate Adrija Hajra - She was just amazing during her SMR shifts. Despite the multiple changes we have during the last few days, she was always taking the initiative to help the department, spearhead the transfers to NCB, and was always checking her junior residents. She is an excellent leader and someone you can always trust even for difficult tasks.”

Dr. Juan Torrado “Juan Torrado was really AMAZING. I want to nominate Juan Torrado for his exceptional work during the floors, He went above and beyond every single day to be sure his team was excelling and his patients were getting the best care. His knowledge is impressive, always bringing interesting teaching points on the discussions. He offered to continue in floors during the busiest time showing camaraderie and support. Juan is an outstanding role model to his peers, transmits his positivism and enthusiasm in every single action! Juan is a great person and physician and the team, peers and his patient truly benefited from his hard work. Exceptional!!”

Dr. Francisco Machiavello Roman “Dr Francisco Machiavello Roman is an asset to patients and his peers in clinic. His humility, dedication to patients, solid clinical knowledge, and professionalism are exemplary. For instance, he was willing to see a complex patient even though it was late in the day and it was his first experience with the outpatient treatment that the patient required. He is an absolute joy to work with.”

Dr. Tinatin Saralidze “I would like to nominate Tinatin Saralidze for resident of the month. She is exceptionally kind and has amazing situational awareness. She takes care of her interns and also finds time in the morning and evening to teach, pre-round and run the list, to allow them to come to a decision. In spite of having very busy days on floors, nothing got compromised when Tina was around - all aspects of patient care were taken care off, the team was very well supported and she was kind to anyone and everyone who she came across. She is functioning at a very advanced 3rd year level with regards to supporting and managing a team. Moreover, she doesn't miss any details. There were two separate instances where our patients were unstable and about to have an RRT. Tina was the first to arrive at the situation, triaged it perfectly, called the appropriate people, came up with a thorough plan and saw it through -- in a way that the RRT was avoided. Also, in this high stress situation she behaved like the code leader, owned the patient and plan. Genuinely, a very high level of functioning as a leader and a doctor!”

Dr. Gabriel Hernandez “I am nominating Gabriel as resident of the month for several reasons: 1.The team was caring for a Type I DM young woman with DKI who frequently gets admitted for the same problem, when questioned about the reasons for the frequent admissions, she stated that she has difficulty with checking her finger sticks therefore she rarely does it, and if she does not eat at times she will stop her insulin because she is afraid her sugar may be too low. I discussed the use or Free style Libre without having to prick herself and that is covered by many insurances including Medicare, but requires the MD to do a certain amount of paperwork, the patient stated that was the main reason why she probably does not have one. Gabriel told her that he would be happy to be her MD in the medicine clinic, and he would do everything in his power to make sure she would receive one of those systems, and work closely with her to keep her out of the hospital, which she agreed to do. 2.He spent numerous hours imparting great ways to figure out very complicated cases and diagnosis with a much simpler approach but still achieving the right outcome, which catapulted the PGY I members of the team to become excellent in such cases. 3.By far one of Gabriel’s best qualities is his ability soothe the team members and patient’s stresses and concerns, to make them feel great and reassured in knowing that he always has their back. One specific case is one of the interns that was having great difficulties and likely in peril, is now a star in the team.”

Dr. Charan Vegivinti “Charan Vegivinti is one of the most hard-working physicians I have seen in the past 5 years. He goes above and beyond to achieve our objectives; excellent patient care and evidence-based medicine. We are very lucky to have him.”

Dr. Tatsunori Takahashi “Dr. Tatsunori Takahashi is deserving of this honor. Tatsu seamlessly ran an exceptionally busy Hospitalist Team while at the same time providing 2 PGY-1 residents with great support and tremendously facilitating the throughput of patients to the absolute best degree possible. Tatsu also supported and taught a Sub-I and two 3rd Year Einstein Clerks in Medicine all at the same time. Tatsu has one of the best work ethics I have ever seen in my entire career. Tatsu’s extraordinary work ethic and diligence is combined with great maturity, sound judgement, an even temperament and highly focused energy. Tatsu also has tremendous ability to adapt to any and all situations with equanimity and a joyful spirit. Tatsu is a pure joy to work with. Tatsu provides great value to his patients, his team members, our faculty and all of our medical students. Therefore, in my humble opinion, Dr. Tatsunori Takahashi is the Jacobi Department of Medicine Block 2 Resident of the Month!”

Dr. Prateek Pophali “Before you even ask- Prateek has been amazing already. Just one example: Last night he caught a saddle embolus in a patient with vague symptoms that were thought to be pneumonia (without hypoxia and with minimal asymmetric edema, with a CXR reported as pneumonia) and sent d-dimer, which he checked while on his way home... and followed up with the residents on call before the patient decompensated so appropriate testing could be done and PERT team could be called. He has gone above and beyond every day, taking great care of the patients and the new interns, teaching constantly and sharing his exceptional clinical judgment.”