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Dream Leads to Froedtert & the Medical College of WisconsinAs a third-year medical student at Rush Medical College in Chicago, Ranveer Nand, MD, realized he wanted to work with cancer patients. His decision to pursue oncology led him to Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin for his residency. “I was impressed with Dr. Kurt Pfeifer (Medical College of Wisconsin internist) and the way the Internal Medicine Program ran,” Dr. Nand, a Chicago native, said.
“Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin is known in the midwest for its Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, a subspecialty of oncology. I wanted exposure to that and to meet oncologists who are renowned around the country,” he added.
Dr. Nand is near the end of his three-year residency in internal medicine, but in July, he’ll begin a three-year fellowship in hematology and oncology at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. He’s one of only two residents selected for the annual fellowship.
“I wanted to be a psychiatrist, because I like interacting with people and affecting their lives. That stayed with me, and this is the first step to where I still want to go — to be an oncologist. I want to be the person who makes an important connection with people, almost like a family member.”
The most important part of his residency, Dr. Nand said, is the day-to-day hospital work. “We take an active role in caring for patients. We do a lot of important work and we’re being taught all the while.”
Dr. Nand values the diversity of people he interacts with every day — from patients and other residents to nurses, social workers, physicians and many others. “We see such a variety of people.. I enjoy coming to work and talking with everybody.”
He also appreciates how quickly medicine changes. “What was current three years ago is out of date today,” Dr. Nand said. “I think the face of medicine is going to change. Instead of the focus being on correcting disease that’s already here, it’s going to be on preventing diseases such as cancer, or chronic diseases that have the potential to kill a person 20 or 30 years from now.
“There’s no doubt,” Dr. Nand continued, “that smoking in particular and poor diet and lifestyle habits contribute to long-term disease and death. Rather than medications, or knowledge, there’s going to be a concentration on changing the way people live.”
In an academic medical center, Dr. Nand has a front row seat for the changes in medicine. “Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin is the premier hospital in southeastern Wisconsin, so we give second, third and fourth opinions,” he said. “Our cases are sometimes simple, but often unusual. From an educational perspective, it’s incomparable to any other hospital in Wisconsin.”
Source: Froedtert Today Date: June 2006 |