December 2010
Sangeetha Reddy, MD
- Recipient of several teaching awards
- Raised over $600,000 for the American Cancer Society
- Determined to master a variety of Indian as well as Italian recipes
- Click here to view pdf
What helped you make the decision to pick Northwestern for residency?
When interviewing, Northwestern’s program really stood out to me (both in Chicago and in the country) as being there to help its residents excel as people, not just as residents. Now almost halfway through intern year, I see that my initial hunch was true. By focusing on hospital wide efficiency and promoting a healthy environment, the administration provides us with a well balanced training program, making sure we each can achieve our personal as well as career goals. More than anything, the administration - in particular Diane Wayne - instills confidence that they will help us succeed and that if something in our unpredictable lives goes wrong, they are here to support us. With this attitude, the program maintains a strong academic rigor and trains us to be masterful clinicians as well as future leaders.
Why did you choose Heme / Onc?
I absolutely loved my first month of intern year on the inpatient heme-onc service at Prentice, so that pretty much sealed the deal. To me, an oncologist is a complete doctor in every aspect of patient care: medical, psychological, social, and spiritual. He or she is privileged to master both the art of transitioning a very sick patient back to health as well as transitioning the patient and loved ones to a comfortable death, depending on which the situation calls for. In addition to patient care, oncology is a field with rapid scientific advancements and cutting edge clinical research that I hope to become involved with shortly.
What motivates me to excel? The patients. The trust they put in us, their appreciation for the work we do, and whatever their medical or psychological struggles are in the first place that brings them to us motivate me to do all that I can for them. As doctors we are privileged to have that role with our patients, so we should do the best we can with it.
Tell us about one of your proudest accomplishments.
I would say my proudest accomplishment would be the Relay-for-Life cancer walk-a-thon that I organized my junior year of college. That year, I expanded the previously smaller scale Harvard-only event to a city-wide Boston fundraiser. Though incredibly challenging, it was a phenomenal experience to manage a team of board members, work with the community, and learn how to gather the resources to make such an event possible. The day of the event, it was great to see that we raised over $600,000 for the American Cancer Society. I very much enjoy being involved in projects like this and hope I’ll get the opportunity to do so at some point again.
