At Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia he majored in Biology and participated in the Peer Mentorship Program during his undergrad years, beginning a career of service to others that was to continue through his time at Saba.
While at Saba he was inducted into the Honor and Service Society and served as a teaching assistant in Physiology and Neuroanatomy, as well as being the co-founder of the Clinical Connections club at Saba.
As he went through his clinical rotations David began to develop an interest in Interventional Radiology. With the Saba clinical team’s support, David did an elective at Providence-Park Hospital, Michigan State University College of Health and Human Sciences in Detroit where he then matched into a transitional year, and from there into a Diagnostic Radiology residency at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh where he served as chief resident.
“I aided in developing the new Early Sub-specialization in Interventional Radiology (ESIR) curriculum for the residency at Allegheny Health Network. Interventional radiology has become a very competitive specialty and trainees are highly sought after”. David is in his final year of his four year residency and has managed to publish along the way, presenting on aneurysm treatment, CT guided lung biopsy, and catheter directed stroke therapy, among other topics at multiple scientific meetings and conferences.
He has been nominated “Chief Resident” in his program, and is planning for his anticipated upcoming fellowship in Interventional Radiology next July at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
“Interventional Radiologists are vascular specialists that use minimally invasive techniques to diagnose and treat critically ill patients. The arteries and veins are the conduits I use to provide local therapies all over the body. I use vascular anatomy to treat a myriad of diseases, from acute bleeding, to uterine fibroids, to liver cancer. I am particularly interested in interventional oncology, for example treating liver cancer using an incision no bigger than a pink nail.”
Says David, “Saba is a great alternate pathway, and really helped me focus on my academic goals. The school prepared me well for the boards, and for a great career in a new and exciting field. I met many motivated students at Saba, most of who have gone on to be leaders in competitive disciplines in medicine”.
Additional Info
- Name David Petrov, MD
- Current Position Fellowship in Interventional Radiology
Kevin Kunzer, M.D., found himself at a crossroads when he graduated from Indiana University, Bloomington with his Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. “I needed to decide between a 2 year Masters level program that hopefully would lead into a traditional U.S allopathic medical school, or a top international medical school. After doing exhaustive research, and talking to Saba grads practicing in the US I chose Saba for the small class sizes, cost effective tuition and small island perfect for focus and study”.
Particularly enjoying his Clinical Diagnosis and Pathology courses at Saba, Dr. Kunzer thrived during Basic Sciences, and felt that the accessibility of the professors, and their willingness to help was key to his success on the island. He also notes the teamwork among his classmates was an outgrowth of the small class environment. After passing his USMLE Step 1 Exam on the first attempt, Kevin enjoyed his clinical rotations. “Clinical rotations were well organized, efficient and high yield. The staff, and attending physicians were eager to teach and promoted autonomy.” Subsequently, Dr. Kunzer went on to complete both Step 2 and Step 3 exams with above average scores. This ultimately culminated in him passing his ABPN Board Exam on first attempt and becoming a Board Certified Psychiatrist.
Psychiatry and mental health had always sparked his curiosity, he pre-matched into his first choice, an ACGME Psychiatry Residency at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine /Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies (MSU/KCMS). A born leader and mentor, Dr. Kunzer was nominated and appointed to Chief Resident during his program, and went on to become an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine where he served as a Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrist and was a psychiatry resident supervisor. He was awarded the “Excellence in Teaching Award Department of Psychiatry” in 2018.
Dr. Kunzer currently practices as a Board Certified Psychiatrist at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services in Portage, Michigan. His advice to students looking at Saba is “Never give up on your dreams and always move forward! Stay curious and enter a specialty of Medicine that you enjoy reading about even on your time off. Saba gave me the opportunity to realize my dream”.
Additional Info
- Name Kevin Kunzer, MD
- Current Position Psychiatrist Portage, Michigan
Andrew Lingard earned an undergraduate degree in Anatomy and Cell Biology, and a Master's in Experimental Medicine both at McGill University in Montreal. “I specifically went to medical school because I wanted to do pathology, a non-clinical specialty so I was not your typical medical student. Saba was very supportive of this. During my clinical rotation years I rotated through Queen’s for a month of Pathology and loved the doctors and the city (the hospital is right on Lake Ontario) so that pretty much clinched it”. Andrew went on to match into Anatomical Pathology at Queen’s University in Canada.
“Saba gives you flexibility to rotate wherever you want to go, and take time to go to conferences. The Clinical Deans keep your specialty of interest in mind and suggested rotations accordingly. The RLRA is a great built-in way for students to delve into a topic of interest, which also gives them a chance to publish and have something academic to have on their resume to chat about during residency interviews.
Additional Info
- Name Andrew Lingard, MD
- Current Position Anatomical Pathology Queen’s University, Canada
Happily practicing medicine back in his Canadian hometown after matching into a two-year Family Medicine residency at Queens University, Stephen “works a stone’s throw from his old house” as a Family Physician in the Oshawa Clinic Group. He has also has stayed connected to Queens University, now serving as an Associate Professor in the Family Medicine Program.
“When I was looking at med schools I really wanted to travel and live somewhere different, so I didn’t apply to any med schools in Canada. I had a friend at Saba and I went to look at the school, and ended up meeting with the Dean. I decided it was the right school for me”.
“Saba was very, very rewarding. I made many good friends and I felt so well prepared for clinicals. It was a rigorous program.” While at Saba, Stephen made the time to help his fellow students as a TA for both the Anatomy and Physiology courses, while also making the Dean’s List and the Alpha Omega Phi Honor and Service Society.
After choosing the opportunity to see some different areas of the U.S during his clinical rotations, Stephen matched into his first choice back in his Canadian hometown. “Interestingly, four of us from Saba matched back into Queen’s University my year. Saba has a great reputation at Queens”. A true Canadian, he is never too far from his hockey stick and manages to enjoy some carpentry work on the side.
“From Saba all roads lead to becoming a doctor. Just put in the effort.”
Additional Info
- Name Stephen Bathe, MD
- Current Position Family Medicine, Queens University
Additional Info
- Name Sonia Dhawan
- Current Position Family Residency at Aultman Hospital
Suy sen Hung Fong is a Biochemistry and Biophysics graduate of Hunter College in NYC, and a May 2018 graduate of Saba University School of Medicine. He is currently in a five year General Surgery Residency at HCA West Florida/Brandon Regional Hospital, affiliated with University of South Florida in Tampa.
Says Suy sen, “I originally thought I would be a Family Medicine doctor. Because of my not-so-good MCAT score, I was not able to get into a US medical school and so I decided to look into the Caribbean route. When I did my research into the four top Caribbean medical schools, I learned that Saba was the most affordable and had the least distractions on the island. When I came to the school I had all the resources that I needed; it was comfortable and I had a beautiful view. The island is peaceful and the people were always really nice. I actually liked everything about Saba.”
It was during his anatomy class in first semester that Suy sen began to develop an interest in surgery. “I really enjoyed working with my hands, and it was then that I start to have spark into pursuing a surgical residency”. Suy sen said that the anatomy professors were always available, often meeting over the weekend with students in the labs to review structures of the body and answer questions.” Very supportive of his burgeoning interest in surgery, he became an anatomy course teaching assistance (TA). “I love teaching and helping the other students, so my experience as a TA was very rewarding and consolidated my foundation of human anatomy”.
Suy sen says he knew how competitive it is to get a surgery residency and that he would have to do well on the USMLE Step one exam. Saba prepared us well for the USMLE Step One exam, he says. They were very on point with the prep materials and taught us great study habits and great discipline”. Suy sen scored 250+ on his Step exams, and after completing his general surgery rotation during his clinical years decided that he definitely wanted to pursue surgery. He did his surgical core and elective rotations at Saint Mary’s Hospital and Bridgeport Hospital, both in Connecticut, and Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. “I came to realize how proactive surgeons are and the amount of leadership skills that is required in the field attracted me the most". “Because of my surgical clerkships, I had a chance to truly experience what surgery residency was about and helped become a good candidate for my residency application”. He matched on his first attempt into a General Surgery Residency at Brandon Regional Hospital and began his training in July 2018.
In first year of his residency, Suy sen has held multiple leadership roles at Brandon Regional Hospital including Morbidity and Mortality Conference, Surgical Simulation Curriculum, Faculty Lectures, and Programmatic Activities. He has also won several awards, including winning first place at the Florida Chapter ACS (American College of Surgeons) Challenging Case Oral Podium Presentation and the Surgical Olympics Competition in March 2019. Because of the good study habits he developed at Saba, it helped him to score well on his ABSITE exam. Suy sen currently has an increasing interest in pursuing a vascular surgery fellowship after his residency. “Patients with vascular diseases are very sick people and I am attracted to the opportunity of a long continuity of care with my patients and forming great patient-doctor relationships”. Within his first year, Suy sen had accomplished multiple scholarly activities, presenting at the local and national level conferences and he is currently working on clinical outcome research studies in endovascular procedures and minimally invasive surgeries. He has also become a committee member of the Florida Chapter Resident and Associated Society (RAS) - ACS for his increasing interest in leadership roles and his desire to be an active member in ACS.
Additional Info
- Name Suy sen Hung Fong, MD
- Current Position General Surgery Resident
Saide Nakazi completed his Bachelor of Science degree at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada specializing in Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences. After graduating with Honors from McMaster University he came to Saba to pursue his medical degree. “I knew many of my classmates who spoke highly of Saba as one of the top Caribbean medical schools.”
Adjusting to life on Saba was seamless. “Once I got into the rhythm of the school it was easy and smooth sailing from there. One thing I really liked is that there weren’t a lot of distractions on the island, so I was really able to focus on my studies.” Saide’s time on the island was also spent actively volunteering and helping others, whether it was patient education at the Saba Annual Health Fair or serving as a teaching assistant for Neuroanatomy and Biochemistry. He enjoyed clinical medicine the most saying “I really enjoyed clinical medicine because it places the patient at the center of medical care while providing direct hands on experience, which for me was great.”
Saide matched into a three-year Internal Medicine Residency at Rochester General Hospital in New York, where he received the “Excellence Award” for two consecutive years. Saide’s main interests are Diabetes, Thyroid disease and Obesity. While at Rochester General Hospital he completed a presentation focusing on “Evolving Multidisciplinary Modalities for Treatment of Obesity”, as well as clinical research in Euglycemic Diabetic Ketoacidosis. He was also awarded a “Certificate of Merit” from the American College of Physicians for participation at local poster competitions. With clinical work and research in his area of interests, he is now getting ready to start a two-year Fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Pennsylvania.
Additional Info
- Current Position Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Fellowship
Jennifer came to Saba from Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where her family physician, Dr. Gunn, encouraged her to apply. His son, son-in-law, and partners in his practice, had all graduated from Saba and spoke very highly of the school. As an undergrad at Dalhousie she studied marine biology, graduated with honors, and worked briefly for the government before deciding to pursue a career in medicine.
“Saba was really great for me. I loved Saba, and for me I was happy from the beginning. I had no adjustment period, maybe because I had traveled a fair amount as a marine biologist." Jennifer was actively involved in the school while doing her Basic Sciences work, serving as a TA for Physiology, Neurology, and Psychology while also serving as Treasurer of the Women’s Medical Student Association. "I worked hard at Saba, and I never felt more prepared for an exam than for I did for the Step 1 exam.”
As Jennifer went through her clinical rotations she become enamored of surgery, until she said she spent some time talking with practicing surgeons. “ The surgeons I spoke with didn’t have very positive things to say about the specialty. The Anesthesiologists seemed happier”.
Choosing to do an Anesthesiology Residency at MetroHealth Medical Center in Ohio, Jennifer transferred after a year to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia to be near her fiancée and complete her anesthesiology residency there. She will shortly be embarking upon her one year Fellowship in Chronic Interventional Pain at the University of Florida in Gainesville.” I have always had an interest in pain, and did a lot of electives in pain management. Pain is the one field of anesthesia that is different. I find pain management procedure heavy, and you have the opportunity to stay connected to the patient. I really like this interaction with patients.”
“I tell students who are looking at medicine to be passionate about what they are doing, and keep all options open. Be realistic, but optimistic!"
Additional Info
- Name Jennifer Lee Harris, MD
- Current Position Chronic Interventional Pain Fellowship University of Florida, Gainesville
Dr. Harman Chawla has been teaching and mentoring others since he first came to Saba with a Neuroscience degree from the University of Lethbridge in Canada.
At Saba he was a TA in Physiology and Neuroscience, and served as Student Body President. In his Pediatric Residency Program at K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital he was nominated Chief Resident in his third year.
Harman just completed a three year Fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. As he progressed in the Fellowship he spent time teaching Residents in the hospital. For this work he was recognized with the "Hospital Teaching Award” , selected from a field of hundreds of Fellows for this very special honor. Says Harman, “ When I was a med student I had a Fellow who was a mentor to me, and he told me to remember what it felt like to be at this stage in my medical career. I was scared and nervous. I never forgot what that felt like, nor his words to me, and for that reason i work to guide and help others through that same experience as he did for me.”
Now that his Pediatric Critical Care Fellowship has ended he has taken a job as a Pediatric Intensivist at Presbyterian Hospital Albuquerque, New Mexico. There is little question whether Dr. Harman Chawla will continue to teach and mentor those around him in his new position. Much continued success Dr. Chawla!
Additional Info
- Name Harman Chawla, MD
- Current Position Pediatric Intensivist, Presbyterian Hospital, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Congratulations to Saba University School of Medicine graduate Dr. Ravi Doobay as he completes his tenure as Chief Medical Resident in Internal Medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University and gets ready to begin his Fellowship in Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh in July of 2019.
Says Ravi, “I thoroughly enjoyed the variety of pathology seen during my residency in Internal Medicine. Critical Care is intensive Internal Medicine while having the opportunity to perform many kinds of procedures. It is an honor to train at the University of Pittsburgh which actually had the first Critical Care program in the country, and is considered to be the leading institution in Critical Care Medicine”.
Additional Info
- Name Dr. Ravi Doobay
- Current Position Critical Care Fellowship
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Congratulations, Dr. Shane Drahos for Completing Fellowship at Stanford University in Sleep Medicine
Congratulations to Dr. Shane Drahos as he nears completion this June of his one year Fellowship at Stanford University in Sleep Medicine. Says Shane, “I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to complete my Sleep Medicine fellowship at Stanford University, which was opened many years ago as the first sleep center in the country. I've been able to train with some of the brightest minds in the field, which will certainly help as I begin my career treating veterans at the Orlando, Florida VA Hospital. After being raised in South Florida and completing my undergraduate degree at UCF in Orlando, it has long been a dream of mine to return home following my training. I'm sincerely looking forward to giving back to the patients at the VA who have already sacrificed so much for all of us.”
Additional Info
- Name Shane Drahos, MD
- Current Position Fellowship at Stanford University in Sleep Medicine
Prashanthi (Prash) was honored with the “Youth in Motion Canada’s Top 20 under 20” for her contributions to medical sciences while a student at the University of Ottawa. This award facilitated her selection into the Governor General’s Mentorship Program in Canada where she was partnered with an Order of Canada Recipient mentor, Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour. Having such an approachable mentor through this program showed her the value of mentorship, and encouraged her to join mentorship initiatives for both junior residents and medical students. “I take mentorship very seriously and it has become a theme throughout my life.”
Prash first learned of Saba through a family friend who had gone to Saba and matched back into Ottawa. “I had heard Saba was very Canadian friendly and had good success with graduates getting into Canadian residencies.” While coming to the island was a completely new experience and a challenge initially she formed strong friendships that have endured to this day, and the group holds reunions with regularity in Toronto.
“The curriculum in the Basic Sciences is geared towards helping students to do well on the board exams and steps.” She did her core rotations in Baltimore. I was able to do electives back in Canada including Nephrology at McMaster and Infectious Diseases at University of Toronto. The rotations that I did in Canada were my letters of references when I applied for the Canadian match. “I got exactly what I had worked for - an Internal Medicine Residency at University of Toronto. I would strongly recommend Saba. It gives you a great platform to get you where you need to be. It helps you achieve your goal of being an M.D.”
Additional Info
- Name Dr. Prashanthi Baskaran
- Current Position University of Toronto, Internal Medicine Residency
We recently caught up with Saba University graduate Dr. Mohammed Kaleel, who we profiled in 2016 prior to entering his fellowship at Stanford in Musculoskeletal Radiology. He is happy to report that the fellowship year was incredible and far exceeded his expectations, calling it “the greatest educational year” of his life. Dr. Kaleel worked alongside brilliant minds in Radiology, and had the opportunity to participate in the care of professional athletes from the NBA, NFL, MLS, and the Olympics.
In additional to the excellent clinical training he received, Dr. Kaleel was also able to work on exciting academic projects at the intersection of technology and healthcare, a passion and skill we covered previously that led to the development of a former #1 iOs app in Medicine and accrued over 3 million users. One of the projects he worked on during fellowship is the sum of decades of research at Stanford University. Dr. Kaleel and his mentors at Stanford University created a web app that aids in diagnosing bone tumors on x-rays using computer intelligence analyzing attributes from over 10,000 cataloged bone tumor cases.
After fellowship, Dr. Kaleel landed a bona fide dream job through his fellowship network at Stanford University. He was invited to join a very exclusive, invitation-only teleradiology group composed predominantly of Radiology graduates from Stanford University and Johns Hopkins, where he covers Emergency Room radiology remotely from the comfort of his home. Vision Radiology covers the satellite hospitals of several top academic centers in the country. On top of covering emergency rooms around the country, Dr. Kaleel also serves as a Musculoskeletal Radiology consultant, where he offers second opinions to other radiologists on complex musculoskeletal imaging.
Through Vision Radiology, Dr. Kaleel is able to do all of this high-level work on a flexible schedule and from anywhere in the world. Although he is primarily based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he has taken advantage of his location freedom to travel the world. In the last 6 months, he has worked out of Europe, Asia, Australia, and Hawaii. Dr. Kaleel intends to use this opportunity for more than just visiting exotic locations around the world as a tourist. One of his primary motives is to use this opportunity to do humanitarian medical work with underserved populations.
Dr. Kaleel has used his flexible schedule for more than just dream travel and humanitarian work. He has been busy working on a healthcare startup with fellow colleagues from Stanford University on an innovative new tool for Radiology that they will be announcing in the near future. On top of all this work in such a short time since fellowship, Dr. Kaleel has found time for one more endeavor for now, he was recently appointed as an Adjunct Clinical Faculty in Musculoskeletal Radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Additional Info
- Name Dr. Mohammed Kaleel
- Current Position Emergency Room Radiology
From Canada originally, Amanda had plans throughout her childhood to become a ballerina and came around to the idea of medicine later in her teens. An Honors graduate in Health Sciences at Brock University, Amanda wasn’t sure what to expect going to medical school, having no doctors in her family, other than that she would have to work hard. “I knew that I would succeed if I put in the work, but Saba gave me the opportunity to excel. I think the competitive environment in combination with the supportive friendships I made was why I did well. I was really pushed to operate at a level that I hadn’t yet reached before.”
The Saba environment was much to her liking. “My class was particularly close knit, and to this day some of my very best friends are from Saba. There are 6 of us in particular who talk almost every day. We are in different residencies, in different states, but we visit each other and have been lucky enough to share each other’s successes and celebrations through the year. They really are family.”
Amanda decided she wanted to become surgeon early on in her clinical training, having started her rotations with her surgery clerkship at Saint Mary’s Hospital. “I spent 12 weeks just totally immersed in the day-to-day grind of the surgical world: rounds, OR, procedures, rounds… I didn’t really think about whether I liked it or not, I just did… And then when it was all over, I realized it was what I needed to do. I was fortunate to do my Sub-Internship in Surgery at Saint Mary’s Hospital and ultimately match there. My first clerkship director who encouraged me to consider surgery in the first place, in my is now my program director and my boss.”
Now in her surgical residency, Amanda’s interests in Public Health lead her to her current position as a Research Scholar at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She is working alongside faculty members to investigate disparities in access to surgery and outcomes from emergency surgeries, based on insurance type. “The ultimate goal is to identify any disparities that exist, and advocate for either local practice changes or legislative changes that would close these gaps and improve equal access to and delivery of surgical care.” She is also participating in continuing hibernation projects at UMass which are in collaboration with several other institutions, investigating anticoagulation in hibernating black bears. “The thought is that if we can understand and explain why the hibernating black bear doesn’t get blood clots during hibernation, we can improve treatment of patients who experience blood clots after surgery.’
Amanda has recently decided that after her general surgery residency, she will pursue training in plastic surgery. “Plastic surgery is most appealing to me as it combines artistry and innovation. There is enormous variety, as plastic surgeons treat conditions resulting from various etiologies, whether they be traumatic, congenital, or due to disfiguring cancers. Ultimately, plastic surgery allows patients to experience transformations that are not only cosmetic, but overall improve function and quality of life. Each patient’s problem must be understood and taken on with an individualized approach and a meticulous attention to detail. Also, a significant proportion of plastic surgeons are interested in Global Surgery, since the access to reconstructive surgeons and the need for reconstructive surgery may also be greater in low and middle-income countries. Global Surgery has always been a passion of mine, and learning that so many people in plastics had a similar interest was what actually initially drew me to the field.”
In March 2018, she joined a team of approximately 25 volunteers, on their SaveSmile trip to Sudan. A team of plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatric internists, emergency physicians, residents and other volunteers traveled to Khartoum, Sudan for a week long surgical mission to repair cleft lips. Cleft lip and palate represent an important functional problem, that impairs speech and ability to eat and drink. Children may be malnourished as a result and also suffer recurrent respiratory infections due to aspirations. Both children and adults suffer from the stigma associated with cleft lip, and sometimes this may prevent them from going to school, gaining employment and overall social acceptance. Amanda was part of a team that performed approximately 25-40 cleft lip repairs per day, and nearly 200 cases in 5 days. “This was the groups 9th consecutive year travelling to Sudan, where there is a significant shortage of plastic surgeons, and where there are significant barriers to access to plastic surgery. Many people live in remote areas and without resources for transport or travel. They travel far and wide for surgery and seeing them smile, happily and proudly after surgery, was such a wonderful experience.” She is looking forward to participating again this year with the group as they return to Sudan for their 10th SaveSmile.
Additional Info
- Name Amanda Fazzalari, M.D
- Current Position General Surgery Saba 2016 Graduate
