Ep 069 - Preventive Medicine with Dr. Janani Krishnaswami

The Undifferentiated Medical Student

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Dr. Janani Krishnaswami

Dr. Krishnaswami is the Program Director of the Preventive Medicine Residency at the University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine.

Dr. Krishnaswami received her medical degree from the University of Michigan in 2008; completed residency training in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente, as well as completed a Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology at the University of California –Berkeley all by 2012, eventually taking the job as Program Director in 2015.

Since completing her training, Dr. Krishnaswami’s research has center on the cultural context of wellness and measuring “best practices” of community engaged programs focusing on preventing sedentary behavior and obesity. In support of this effort, Dr. Krishnaswami’s has focused on building health “outside the hospital” by engaging students, community members and trainees in community-based, participatory efforts to promote wellness, prevent chronic disease, and sustain health. Prior to her role as Program Director at Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Krishnaswami served as the Associate Program Director for Preventive Medicine at the University of California – Los Angeles, where she led curriculum development on community engagement and quality improvement. In addition, she developed and taught a novel health policy curriculum for the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Internal Medicine residency program, and mentored Family Medicine and Internal Medicine residents through the program’s first community-engaged research elective. Based on her work in curriculum design and medical education, she was invited to serve on the national steering committee directing the creation of a novel inter-residency health policy fellowship, led by George Washington University and Kaiser Permanente.

Importantly, this work led Dr. Krishnaswami to establish the Preventive Medicine program at Rio Grande Valley as the first ACGME-accredited residency based on the “Community-Engaged Lifestyle Medicine” curriculum, which aims to build health equity and local health in the training of residents.

In her spare time, Dr. Krishnaswami tends to her own wellness through her hobbies of writing, singing and fitness, and spending time with her husband and young son.

Please enjoy with Dr. Janani Krishnaswami!