Thirty-five recently graduated medical and osteopathic doctors received their white coats in special ceremonies, June 28, at the KPC Health Center in Hemet officially recognizing them as physicians beginning their one to three year residencies in their chosen specialties.
The new doctors come from top rated medical schools in the United States and across the globe and will be assisting local doctors on their rounds at the recently renamed KPC Hemet Global Medical Center and KPC Menifee Hospitals. The residents will learn the fine points of their chosen specialities from working Physicians for Healthy Hospitals at the local medical centers.
The doctors were greeted and welcomed by Peter Baronoff, the CEO of KPC Health.
“It is really the beginning of what’s it all about being a physician,” he said to them. “We hope some of you will want to stay after your residency.”
Dr. Sumanta Chaudhuri Saini, director of medical education, introduced the faculty to the new residents who they will be working with. The faculty from the different specialities, attending the ceremony included DME program director Dr. Frederick White in radiology and Chaudhuri Saini who will head up internal medicine along with Dr. Veeravat Tae, the associate program director.
Chaudhuri Saini will also be in charge of the 18 residents in the 2019-2020 transitional year program who have chosen to stay another year to learn additional skills in their professions. Specialty residency programs such as the one at the KPC hospitals many continue from one to five years. Thus far nearly 99 doctors have completed their residency at the local hospitals in the last five years.with a number choosing to remain in the Hemet San Jacinto Valley in their own practices and specialties.
White presented white coats to first year internal medicine residents: Yuvraj Brar, MD; Mastaneh Nikravesh, MD; Ankit Dubey, MD; Natalia Jacobs, DO; Sabina Kumar, DO; Steven Noriega, MD; Jinesh Patel, MD; Naresh Purohit, MD; Jessica So, MD; Sergi Khodakivskyi, MD; Megan Locks, DO; Kevin Martin, DO; Mohammad Yousuf, MD, and Chukwuemeka “Emeka” Umeh, MBBS.
White also presented white coats to 2019-2020 second year radiology residents: April Garcia, DO; Kayra Rubio, DO, and John Thueson, DO.
Chudhuri Saini presented white coats to first year transitional residents: Christine Chang, DO; Neha Dhadwal, DO; Jaspreet Dhanjal, MD; Arka Dutta, MD; Medi Eslani, MD; Pete Flores, MD; Asmar Abdul Ghani, MD; Divya Gupta, MD; Jaxmyne Hefflefinger, DO; Ravi Janumpally, MD; Shadi Kazourra, MD, Poojitha Mummaneni, MD; Anphong Nguyen, MD; Muhammad Safwatullah, MD; Clinjto Schaefer, DO; Krystal Sood, MD, and Ashley Stratton, DO.
With their white coats, bearing their physician names, the residents raised their right hands to swear the osteopathic and Hippocratic oath led by Chaudhuri Saini.
Dr. So from Apple Valley, who received her medical training at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Granada, said she chose to take her residency at the KPC Global Medical Center in Hemet because the hospital itself offered what she said has an amazing faculty.
“I had kinda heard this from a friend before that it was a teaching population where you couldn’t get any better training anywhere else,” So said.
