OUR TRANSITIONAL RESIDENTS

Andrew Browne

My family emigrated from South Africa to the heart of it all (Columbus, Ohio) in 1991. I explored many subsets of science and sports at Thomas Worthington High School and in 1998 I accompanied many of my classmates down the road at The Ohio State University where I studied electrical engineering, ran, cycled, danced and participated in cancer and biomedical engineering research. The possibilities of academic science, engineering and medicine directed me to matriculate into the MD/PhD program at the University of Cincinnati in 2003. As a young medical student I invested myself in teaching medical pharmacology and co-authoring a review book: Pharmacology You See.

In graduate school I tinkered with point-of-care testing technologies and a new cancer screening principle. I was convinced I would follow the path to pediatric oncology, but was redirected by surgical clerkships. The balance of clinical and surgical cases, with device development and emerging applied biology hooked me on ophthalmology. The thorough clinical environment, richly available research, and broad academic curriculum attracted me to Cambridge Hospital, and next year I will bounce to the other side of the country to train as an ophthalmologist at the University of Southern California.

Jennifer Chang

Growing up near Detroit, I was surrounded by engineers and thought I would join the ranks, until high school, when I volunteered at a children's hospital downtown. I was drawn to people's stories and realized that I wanted something more personal than engineering. Medicine would be a better fit.

At the University of Michigan, I studied chemistry and did some bench research. It was, in short, fun. I joined the MD-PhD program at Harvard in hope of bridging clinical medicine and research. After many years "on call" for my yeast, I defended my thesis: "The histone regulatory proteins Spt10 and Spt21: roles in growth and silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae."

Clinically, my interest has always been in oncology. Palliative care is especially dear to me as a whole-person, whole-community approach to the end of life. This, along with my research interests, led me to radiation oncology, which I will pursue at UCSF. Cambridge struck me as a perfect place for internship, with its excellent training and devotion to the underserved.

In my spare time I play violin with the Longwood Symphony and engage in all-weather bicycle commuting. I look forward to working with everyone. It promises to be an amazing year.

Veena Mathew

I grew up in Augusta, Georgia and graduated from Carnegie Mellon University as a Science and Humanities Scholar. After graduating, my husband Amit and I returned to Atlanta where I volunteered with an Afghani refugee family through the International Rescue Committee. Given my dedication to serving underserved populations that eventually led me to CHA, I completed medical school and a Masters in Public Health at Boston University. My MPH practicum research focused on disparities in access to and delivery of vision care for individuals with intellectual disability. After my transitional year, I will be returning to BU for ophthalmology residency.

My MPH year opened up some free time, during which Amit and I created an iPhone app called Cram Fighter, a study schedule planner for USMLE Step 1 and 2 which is still going strong! I also spent time in India as a Unite for Sight Global Impact Fellow, where we established vision screenings and provided free eye care and surgeries for indigent patients. My other interests include Indian dance, painting, cooking, and travel, most recently, to Australia to scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef!

Farhan Merali

Born and raised in Toronto, I love all things Canadian, including skiing, skating, and poutine. The son of Indian immigrants who were born in East Africa, my passion for medicine was sparked by a visit to the birthplace of my parents and witnessing the abysmal state of and access to health care. To pursue my interests in science and medicine, I came to the US for college (MIT) - and have been in the Boston/Cambridge area ever since! My community service and extracurricular involvements made me certain that medicine was the right career path for me, and after graduating from MIT, I started at Harvard Medical School.

My experiences in medical school highlighted the deficiencies in our ability to deliver quality health care adequately and equitably. I became very interested in health care systems improvement work - and enrolled in the MBA program at Harvard Business School. I fell in love with the field of ophthalmology while working with a retinal specialist also pursuing a degree in health care management on a project to strengthen Cambodia's eye care infrastructure; I realized the field would enable me to bring together my varied interests - in clinical medicine, health care improvement, and international development work.

Aya Michaels

I was born in a small town in Indiana, but several months after my birth, my family moved to Okinawa, Japan. My father is a self-titled "international cheesemaker" and was supplying dairy products to the military base there. Five years later, we moved to Watertown, CT and have been there ever since. Although, now, my father is based in Peru, my mother spends part of her year mastering the tango in Argentina, and my younger sister is teaching English in Japan.

I went to Columbia University where I majored in Biochemistry and then went directly to Harvard Medical School. Early in my fourth year of med school I discovered my passion for radiology - I am excited to begin my training at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 2012. For fun, I enjoy cooking (or more appropriately experimenting in the kitchen), zumba dancing, traveling, and taking advantage of many of the Groupon deals (and its derivatives) around town.

Elliot Rapp

Born in Ohio, I spent my childhood in rural Washington State. To this day, I love skiing, hiking, canoeing and backpacking in the amazingly beautiful Cascade Mountains. College brought me to the East Coast, where I rowed crew at Duke University and earned a double major in Economics and Comp Sci. I graduated at the peak of the dot-com boom and spent six years in high tech, including a classic dot-bust stint at Trilogy Software in Austin.

While I love technology and its promise at solving societal challenges, I realized that I wanted more meaning in my day-to-day work. This brought me to Yale for medical school. My longstanding interest in pattern recognition and its heavy emphasis on diagnostic skill quickly led me to Radiology. During my career, I hope to combine my interest in technology and medicine to improve our ability to identify disease early, manage it optimally, and lower the cost of modern medicine.

On a personal note, my latest passion is kiteboarding. In this amazing sport, you use a kite to harness the power of wind, allowing you to explore water, land, and snow, and soar to incredible heights over some of the world's most amazing scenery.

Chetan Vedvyas

I grew up in suburban New Jersey, later attending New York University where I studied Psychology with a minor in Chemistry as an undergraduate. While in New York City, my interest in medicine grew as I volunteered in the bustling emergency department at Bellevue Hospital. During this time, I also received the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Fellowship and conducted basic science research in infectious diseases at the Food and Drug Administration. I worked as a teaching assistant for the Department of Chemistry at NYU as well, and I used my spare time to volunteer as a mentor and tutor for underprivileged youngsters at The Door.

After graduating from NYU, I matriculated at Harvard Medical School where I conducted PASTEUR-funded translational research identifying a serum apoptosis marker to be predictive of clinical outcome in critical illness. I went on to volunteer with the student-designed, student-run Crimson Care Collaborative primary care clinic at the Massachusetts General Hospital, helping build information technology infrastructure for the new clinic and teaching junior Harvard medical students at the bedside. My interest in education culminated during my fourth year, when I served as a Senior Preceptor in Clinical Teaching for medical students at Harvard University. In my spare time, I enjoy technology and fine dining.

After completing my internship year at the Cambridge Health Alliance, I will proceed along to residency training in Dermatology at the New York University School of Medicine.