As Hospital Epidemiologist, Dr. Bhagyashri “Bhagy” Navalkele leads the charge in preventing and fighting infections at UMMC. During the COVID pandemic, she along with other infectious disease physicians within the Department, worked tirelessly to form the institution’s response and strategy. Here, she shares her background, path to UMMC, and some wise advice for those pursuing medicine today.
What is your professional background?
I graduated from medical school in Mumbai (west coast), India. I completed my internal medicine residency in New Jersey and then pursued infectious diseases fellowship at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. I did an additional year of Infection Prevention and Antimicrobial Stewardship Fellowship at Wayne State before joining UMMC as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in Division of Infectious Diseases in 2017.
Tell us about what you do at UMMC.
I primarily work as the Hospital Epidemiologist aka Medical Director of Infection Prevention. I am very passionate about preventing infections and my number one priority is patient safety. My everyday work involves keeping our patients, healthcare workers and hospital environment safe. I work closely with multidisciplinary teams along with the Infection Prevention department. My daily work includes promoting hand hygiene, monitoring and preventing hospital-acquired infections, investigating outbreaks, providing consultation on employee safety, vaccination requirements, and educating different types of caregivers. I enjoy patient care. I see HIV and general ID patients in outpatient clinics and rotate on inpatient clinical service from time to time.
What advice would you give to someone pursuing medicine today?
Now is the best time to decide and work on the kind of doctor you want to be remembered as. Don’t hesitate to ask questions. Everyone makes mistakes, learn from your mistakes and move on. Observe good qualities in the people you are around (family, friends, seniors, attendings, mentors, nurses, etc.) and imbibe those qualities to become a good human being and an extraordinary physician. Lastly, use all your vacation time and enjoy life outside of work.
What do you like most about UMMC?
The people. I experienced the southern hospitality for the first time when I moved from Michigan to Mississippi. UMMC has a friendly and supportive work environment. It is my second family and I enjoy working with everyone.
Tell us something about yourself that people may not know.
I find it very fascinating that well before I came here I had a family bond with UMMC. My eldest sister did her pediatric residency at UMMC (2009-2012). Later, my brother-in-law (married to my second sister) did his adult GI fellowship here (2012-2015). Now, my husband (Pradeep Bathina) and I are working here. Every family get-together, we share our stories and experiences at UMMC from different times and have been watching it grow and evolve.
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