MEDPAC Board of Directors Welcomes New Members

June 30, 2022

The MEDPAC Board of Directors welcomed four physicians-in-training to its ranks including residents Anagha Bangalore Kumar, MD, and Likhita Shaik, MD, and medical students Diana Hla and Vineet Raman. 

Kumar completed both medical school and dermatology residency in India, where she was born and raised. She is currently completing her dermatology residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, working with skin cancer patients. Along with patient care, she is passionate about research. She intends to go into academia to focus on research efforts, student mentoring, advocacy for dermatology as a specialty, and patient advocacy.  

Shaik grew up in India and other parts of the world, which helped her understand various barriers that impede achieving “health for all.” This drew her to advocate for health equity and education through patient care and many volunteering activities. She realized that this can be better achieved through addressing such issues through the political sphere that supports healthcare systems. Her hope is to be a physician that serves societal health at different levels. She is currently pursuing this as a family medicine resident at Hennepin Healthcare. She is also interested in primary care and hospital medicine in an academic environment. 

Hla is a rising third-year medical student at the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine, interested in surgery and advocacy. Having grown up in Washington, DC, she has always been interested in politics from afar, but says her medical school experiences have highlighted how political involvement can be a vehicle for improving how physicians work with patients, both on an individual and community level. She has particular interest in working on concrete changes in health disparities through policy. Ultimately, she hopes to increase physician engagement in medicine to  create an environment that maximizes how physicians can improve patients' well-being.  

Raman graduated with degrees in Biology, Spanish, and Latin American & Caribbean Studies from the University of Georgia in May 2019. He is a rising second-year medical student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus, and is interested in a career in primary care. He has examined health systems in south India on a Fulbright grant and researched community health in northeast Georgia. Raman has an interest in policy and politics, which he has explored through research and internships in federal and state government. 

If you are interested in learning more about MEDPAC, the political arm of the MMA, contact Chad Fahning at cfahning@mnmed.org, or visit the MEDPAC webpage here.