Eleven hospitalist physicians have started in the University of Arizona Division of Inpatient Medicine since July 1, with another set to start on Oct. 1. The division is one of 14 within the UA Department of Medicine, the largest and one of six original departments at the UA College of Medicine – Tucson.
Hospitalists do not see patients by appointment, but rather are dedicated inpatient physicians who serve all patients admitted to the hospital as needed. Theirs is the medical specialty concerned with the care of acutely ill hospitalized patients who may suffer from a range of injuries, illnesses or diseases.
At the UA, they practice at the UA Health Sciences primary clinical partner hospitals, Banner – University Medical Center Tucson and Banner – UMC South. To schedule an appointment at either facility, please call (520) 694-8888. Visit the department's Recruitment webpage to learn about other open clinical positions.
The new recruits come with a wide range of experiences and clinical and research interests, said Tejo Vemulapalli, MD, division chief and department associate chair for inpatient quality and safety.
“Hospitalists are integral to maintaining quality of inpatient care through their continued partnership with nursing, case management and hospital administration. We serve about 50 percent of inpatient beds on any given day,” he added. “For the past two years, the Inpatient Medicine Division struggled with a lack of enough faculty. They have shown their resilience as everyone in the division stepped up to cover the gaps with very limited help from outside locums.”
Locum tenens, aka locums, are part-time physicians who fill in for other physicians on a temporary basis.
New hospitalists and their start dates are listed below:
David Brual, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – July 1
Dr. David Brual comes to the UA from Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore where he was chief resident in internal medicine. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Ill., near Chicago, during which he also was a volunteer at the Community Health Clinic and prior to that at Rush Oak Park Hospital. Board certified in internal medicine, he completed his medical degree at Xavier University in Oranjestad, Aruba, and holds a bachelor’s degree in life science from Arizona State University. Dr. Brual’s research activities have focused on quality improvement (QI) efforts related to increasing end-of-life discussions, colon cancer screening, controlled substance handling and e-prescriptions. He is fluent in Spanish.
Maham Farshidpour, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – July 15
Dr. Maham Farshidpour joins our faculty from Medstar Union Memorial and Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, where he completed his residency training in internal medicine. He earned his medical degree from Islamic Azad University, Tehran Medical Branch, in Iran. He worked as a hospitalist at a veterans hospital in Tehran before completing postdoctoral research fellowships at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and the University of Shahid Behesthi in Tehran. After that, he did a clinical observership at Saint Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City and was a research fellow at the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. He has authored a number of case reports and research papers, most recently related to screening, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C, tuberculosis and HIV infections.
Shilpa Pedapati, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – July 25
Dr. Shilpa Pedapati is a hospitalist who joins the UA after completing her residency training in internal medicine at Guthrie-Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pa. Before that, she was a duty medical officer for the Indo-US Hospitals in Hyderabad, India; a medical officer at the Ayushya Clinic in Tirupati, India; and completed a compulsory rotatory residential internship at Gandhi Hospital, in Hyderabad. Dr. Pedapati earned her medical degree from Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences, Government Medical College, in Anantapur, India. She also did clinical observerships at St. Mary’s Medical Center, Huntington, W.Va.; the NTR Blood Bank, Hyderabad; Montefiore Hospital, Bronx, N.Y. (pediatric neurology and gastroenterology); and Meadowlands Hospital, Secaucus, N.J. She has authored several case reports and research papers, primarily related to a disappearing lung mass (CHEST 2017 poster presentation), liver abscesses due to Clostridium bifermentans (ACP Internal Medicine Meeting 2017 poster presentation), colorectal and colon cancer screening, and inflammatory bowel disease. She was presented with an American College of Physicians (ACP) Young Achiever Award at the ACP 2017 event.
Tarun Bathini, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – July 26
Dr. Tarun Bathini joins us after completing his residency training in internal medicine at Bassett Medical Center in Cooperstown, N.Y. He earned his medical degree from Kakatiya Medical College in Warangal, India. Afterward, he was a house staff physician at Olive Hospitals in Hyderabad, India (2011-12, 2014 and 2015). In between, he completed clinical electives at Maryland Asthma, Allergy & Sinus Center, Rockville, Md. (advanced allergy); Regional Academic Health Center, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (SuClinica Familiar, internal medicine and cardiology); and Valley Baptist Medical Center, Harlingen, Texas (cardiology). He also did research assistantships in cardiac MRIs at New York Methodist Hospital, Brooklyn (under Dr. John Heitner), and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (under Dr. Julio Chirinos). His clinical interests are in cardiology-heart failure, hospital medicine and critical care. He is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support/Basic Life Support.
Annie Shergill, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – Aug. 13
Dr. Annie Shergill completed her residency training in internal medicine at UPMC Mercy, a main hospital facility of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh. She earned her medical degree from the Windsor University School of Medicine in Saint Kitts and Nevis. She did a clinical observership at Madera Community Hospital (internal medicine, family medicine and cardiology) in Madera, Calif. She has given multiple oral presentations on topics including ulcerative colitis, abnormal liver function, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, uterine bleeding and ICU sedation. She was the winner of the Western Region ACP Resident’s Poster competition for a QI project on improving the rate of influenza and pneumococcal vaccination at a university based teaching clinic. She speaks English, Hindi and Punjabi and is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support/Basic Life Support.
Sorabh Sharma, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – Aug. 15
Dr. Sorabh Sharma earned his medical degree from Government Medical College & Hospital in Chandigarh, India, and completed his residency training in internal medicine at Easton Hospital in Easton, Pa. His professional experience includes a compulsory rotatory residential internship at Government Medical College & Hospital (Chandigarh); clinical tutoring, Department of Pathology, St. George’s University, Grenada; medical officer, Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula, India; clinical observer, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (leukemia research under Dr. Naval Daver); and volunteer research associate, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Kentucky (cardiovascular medicine under Dr. Marcin Wysoczynski). He is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support/Basic Life Support.
Robert Koch, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – Aug. 20
Dr. Robert C. Koch holds an associate degree from Pima Community College, a bachelor’s degree (physiology/chemistry) from the University of Arizona and completed his medical degree at Saint Louis University in Missouri. At the University of Arizona, he graduated summa cum laude, won an Outstanding Senior Award and was a Nugent Award nominee for the UA College of Medicine – Tucson. He did his residency training in internal medicine at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix. His volunteer activities include Carondelet Hospice and Palliative Care, Tucson, and the Health Resource Center at Saint Louis University. He is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support.
Soham Davé, DO — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – Sept. 7
Dr. Soham Davé completed his medical degree at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) in Lewisburg and also holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He did his residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Memphis. His work experience includes being a research assistant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, teacher at Chesapeake High School, Pasadena, Md., and staff member to U.S. Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD, CD1, 2009-11). He served as president of the WVSOM Student Government Association, on the DO Advisory Board of the American Medical Student Association and was national legislative affairs representative to the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents. He won multiple academic leadership awards and scholarships while in college. His research publications and presentations have focused on obesity, cardiomyopathy, aortic stenosis, unstable angina, understanding hyponatremia, and prescribing statins in a pediatric population. He speaks English, Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu, and is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support/Pediatric Advanced Life Support and neonatal resuscitation.
Alvaro J. Altamirano Ufion, MD— Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – Sept. 15
With his primary clinical practice home at Banner – UMC South, Dr. Alvaro Altamirano Ufion comes to us from the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, where he recently completed his residency training in internal medicine. He earned his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua in Managua, Nicaragua, of which he is a native. His work experience includes most recently having been a student coordinator for the Kaplan Test Prep Center in Pasadena, Calif., for U.S. Medical License Examinations (USMLE). Before that, he was an internal medicine resident at the Hospital Roberto Calderón Gutierrez in Managua and a general practitioner with the Nicaragua Ministry of Health. He has served as a volunteer for Chagas disease outreach clinic and health fairs in Los Angeles and a research volunteer at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, Calif. In addition, he has done a externship rotation in cardiology at City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, Calif., and internal medicine rotations at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Altamirano’s research—co-authored largely with our next physician, Dr. Roshanak Habibi—has focused on hypothyroidism and cardiovascular disease, Chagas disease among patients with pacemakers (particularly Latin American immigrants), cirrhosis in HIV-positive patients, diabetes and gout. He speaks English and Spanish.
Roshanak Habibi, MD— Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – Sept. 15
Dr. Roshanak Habibi comes to us from Chicago where she recently completed her residency training in internal medicine at Presence St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill. Prior to that, she did externship rotations in internal medicine at an Advocate Medical Group-affiliated primary care office in Chicago, Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Weiss Memorial Hospital and Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, as well as an emergency medicine observership at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital in California. She also was a USMLE courses student coordinator for Kaplan Test Prep in Pasadena. Dr. Habibi is originally from Iran, where she earned her medical degree from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Afterward, she served as an emergency room physician at Aradan Hospital in Semnan, Iran, and Tarom Hospital in Zanjan, Iran, then a research fellow and general practitioner at the Brain and Spinal Injury Repair Research Center at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. She has authored several poster and oral presentations, case reports and research papers. Topics include corticosteroids and subclinical atherosclerosis in lupus, drug-induced leukocytoclastic vasculitis in a patient with cellulitis, stridor and intubation, and tamponade and angiosarcoma. She speaks English, Farsi and basic Spanish and French, and is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support/Basic Life Support.
Nanda K. Pullela, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – Sept. 15
Dr. Nanda Pullela joins the UA faculty after recently completing his residency training in internal medicine at BronxCare Hospital Center (formerly Bronx-Lebanon Hospital) in New York. Before that, he did a research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at the C5 Research Core Lab with the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, analyzing more than 1,200 transthoracic echocardiographic images for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures in a clinical trial. His work experience includes being an interventional cardiology consultant for STAR Hospitals and Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad, India; a junior cardiology consultant at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, and an assistant professor of medicine at Andhra Medical College in Visakhapatnam, India. Preceding that, he completed a cardiology fellowship at Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital in New Delhi and a residency in general medicine at Andhra Medical College, after earning his medical degree there. He has written papers for the Indian Heart Journal and presented on cardiac resynchronization therapy at the Heart Rhythm Society in San Francisco in 2016.
Kamaldeep Singh, MD — Inpatient Medicine/Hospitalist, Clinical Assistant Professor – Oct. 1
A native of Chandigarh, India, Dr. Kamaldeep Singh earned his medical degree from Spartan Health Sciences University, in Laborie, Saint Lucia, after studying at California State University, East Bay (Hayward, Calif.), the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Massasoit College in Brockton, Mass. He completed his residency training in internal medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and James J. Peters VA Medical Center in New York City. His research experience includes being a research coordinator for Drs. Miroslav Radulovic and Mark Korsten at the National Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury, James J. Peters VA Medical Center, a research associate for Dr. Rajvir Dahiya at the Northern California Institute for Research and Education, University of California, San Francisco, and a volunteer research associate at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and University of California, San Diego. He also did clinical observerships in internal medicine and gastroenterology at Washington Hospital in Fremont, Calif., and in internal medicine and family medicine with Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles. Dr. Singh is certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support/Basic Life Support and Emergency Neurological Life Support. He speaks English, Hindi and Punjabi.
ALSO SEE:
“UA College of Medicine Puts Out Call for Nominations for New ‘Clinical Excellence Award’” | Posted Aug. 24, 2018
“A Dozen New Physicians Join Faculty in 7 Divisions in Department of Medicine” | Posted Aug. 3, 2017
“New Hospitalists Starting in Division of Inpatient Medicine Soon” | Posted May 16, 2017
“Hospitalists Focus on QI for Inpatient Medicine” | Posted March 14, 2016