Martin Tarzian, M.D.
Class of 2023
Psychiatry resident
MetroHealth
Cleveland, OH
Dr. Martin Tarzian started a psychiatry residency at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio in summer 2024. He said he initially wanted to be a surgeon but found his passion for psychiatry during a rotation in Danbury, Connecticut. He was inspired by the way patients with mental health issues communicated and spoke passionately about their experiences. Dr. Tarzian emphasizes that psychiatry is more than just prescribing medication; it involves a holistic approach to mental health, including therapy and listening to patients. He also discusses the non-falsifiable nature of psychiatry, which requires detective work to understand and treat patients.
Dr. Tarzian attended the University of Toronto as an undergraduate but wanted to study outside of Canada.
"I was talking to my advisor and she told me that my best option would be to go to the Caribbean. And then she told me that there's a Big Six, like St. George, AUA, Ross, but there's this one new school that has really small classroom sizes and they really focus on student/professor interaction. So, that was UMHS. I decided to take my chances and I went to UMHS and what she said was true. Every professor that I've had at UMHS, I have some kind of relationship with them even now. So much so that I actually went back, actually got back a few days ago to teach a couple semesters at UMHS in the interim, while I wait to begin my residency."
He shares his hopes for his residency, including being part of the psychoanalytic renaissance in medicine and getting involved in research on new psychiatric drugs. He also offers advice to prospective psychiatry students, emphasizing the importance of a diverse portfolio, education, and networking. Finally, he discusses the stigma surrounding mental health and the need for it to be taken more seriously. Read all of this and more in his UMHS interview.
Kirthana Sugunathevan, M.D.
Class of 2023
General surgery resident
Detroit Medical Center Sinai Grace, MI
Dr. Kirthana (“Kerthy”) Sugunathevan started a general surgery residency Match at Detroit Medical Center Sinai Grace in Michigan in the summer of 2023. Those who follow UMHS social media may have seen the many Instagram posts she has done because she worked as a UMHS Media Ambassador for several years, writing posts and shooting short videos about things happening in St. Kitts and during her clinical rotations. Kerthy is from Guelph, Ontario, Canada and spent a few months teaching at UMHS before starting her residency. She hopes to teach medical students again someday. “Teaching is something that interests me,” she said. “So, in some format, I'd love to maybe pursue a master's in medical education or just somehow incorporate that in my future career.”
What aspects of UMHS helped her the most?
“Being somewhere where the teachers really believe in you and want you to succeed is amazing. It's a small school and it's a small community, but having your teachers notice you and know your name and whether you missed the day of class they notice. I think having that relationship with your teachers is such a unique, and amazing thing to have. So, I think that is definitely one of the advantages of UMHS aside from its small class sizes, is that relationship you can truly form with your teachers. It’s really nice because when you get to your rotation, sometimes it can be intimidating talking to attendings, but you're familiar talking to teachers on the island, so you're a little less nervous to talk to your attendings during rotations.”
Read more about Dr. Sugunathevan’s success in the UMHS Endeavour blog.
Fatima Issa, M.D.
Class of 2023
Child neurology resident
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA
Dr. Fatima Issa started a residency at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in child neurology in Richmond, VA in the summer of 2024. The Canadian native is one of the first UMHS graduates to Match in the competitive field of child neurology. Dr. Issa shares her personal experience with a child neurologist as a child when she had a brain tumor and how it inspired her to pursue a career in the field. Dr. Issa said that child neurologists focus on managing brain development and conditions such as ADHD, autism, and epilepsy in children, while adult neurologists focus on conditions such as stroke and dementia in adults. She is interested in conducting research during her residency, particularly in areas such as epilepsy triggers and the impact of environmental factors on brain development. Dr. Issa said she believes it is important to choose a field that one is passionate about.
She praises UMHS for its caring and supportive environment and acknowledges the need for more child neurologists in the US healthcare system.
"When I learned about UMHS, I actually met with one of the owners of UMHS and this was in the beginning of the development of UMHS. And she was so welcoming. She was so beautiful in her approach to how they can help us and what a small class size it is and how the professors are so welcoming towards their students and we're not just a number. I think that was really the main thing that made me want to go into UMHS is the fact that the professors would care for you, the owners would care for you, everybody would care for you. And it's been actually proven through my approach and a lot of my classmates as well, UMHS genuinely cares about their students. So, it was a great experience overall."
What advice does she have for prospective students interested in child neurology? Read more in her interview in the UMHS Endeavour.
Alisha Qaiser, M.D.
Class of 2021
Neurology resident
Mercy Health, St. Mary's
St. Mary's, MI
Dr. Qaiser just started a Neurology residency at Mercy Health St. Mary’s in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “What drew me to Mercy Health for residency was the small class size to receive dedicated one-on-one time with the faculty, the wide spectrum of elective opportunities, and the program’s emphasis on resident education.”
A UMHS professor helped spark her interest in Neurology.
“One of my favorite professors, Dr. Michael Doherty, was a huge inspiration as to why I fell in love with Neurology. My interest in Neurology had stemmed in his class where we learned about the complexity of the brain and the intricate details of the nervous system. His teaching style had made such a complicated subject so simple and easy to understand. This further led me to become a TA for neuroscience/neuroanatomy which I thoroughly enjoyed doing.”
UMHS clinical rotations also helped her develop an appreciation for the specialty. “During my clinical rotations, being a part of care for patients presenting with any sort of neurological component in their diagnoses always sparked my interest in learning more about their condition. I enjoyed the detailed history and physical examination component in Neurology and the fact that there’s a lot of problem-solving and detective work makes it fun.”
Dr. Qaiser is currently interested in Headache Medicine, Stroke and Neurocritical Care. She plans on doing a fellowship and being a part of academic medicine in the future.
Read more about Dr. Alisha Qaiser's Neurology residency at Mercy Health St. Mary’s in MI.
Divya Krishnan, M.D.
Class of 2021
Family Medicine resident
AdventHealth Central Florida
Winter Park, FL
Born in India, Dr. Divya Krishnan spent the first six years of her life in Dubai and eventually moved with her family to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where she remained until heading to St. Kitts to attend UMHS. She didn’t originally plan to become to doctor but always knew she loved the sciences.
Dr. Krishnan is presently in a family medicine residency at AdventHealth Central Florida in Winter Park, FL. Family medicine was her specialty of choice for many reasons, but she especially wants to help enrich health equity for underserved populations and offer preventative care. “Family medicine appeals to me as it touches on most fields of medicine,” she said. “Furthermore, I feel that this specialty is ideal for my interests as it provides an all-rounded approach to medicine that includes discussions on social determinants of healthcare, preventative health, holistic medicine and health maintenance. I am especially interested in serving underserved populations particularly while navigating preventative health and health maintenance with the added hurdles of health literacy, cultural influences and healthcare access.”
Read more about Dr. Divya Krishnan on her Family Medicine residency at AdventHealth in FL
Jerome Couture, M.D.
Class of 2019
Nocturnist/Assistant Professor of Medicine
Penn State Health
Hershey, PA
Dr. Jerome Couture ’19 just started a new position as a Nocturnist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Penn State Health in Hershey, PA. Dr. Couture was previously Medical Director/Internist for the United States Air Force in Hampton, VA. “As an internist at a clinic with 3500+ high-acuity, geriatric patients, I successfully provide comprehensive medical care to a large and complex patient population, utilizing evidence-based practices and personalized treatment plans to improve overall health outcomes associated with a high level of patient satisfaction and positive feedback,” he said. He was also a part-time hospitalist at Sentara Health in Hampton, VA.
After attending UMHS in St. Kitts, he matched in Internal Medicine at UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) Mercy in Pennsylvania and completed his residency there in June 2022.
Dr. Couture is from Stratford, Quebec, Canada, near the U.S. border of Maine and Vermont. Because Canadian medical schools are so competitive, he decided to apply to Caribbean medical schools to make sure that all my options were covered. He was pleased when he was accepted to UMHS in sunny St. Kitts. “Who gets to say they studied in a warm, tropical location?”
Dr. Couture explains that it was the electives he took during clinical rotations at UMHS that truly helped him choose Internal Medicine as a specialty.
“To be honest, I was never quite sure what I wanted to do at first,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s only when I started my electives with subspecialists in the field of Internal Medicine that I realized how great their lifestyles were. Not only were they able to pursue knowledge through Internal Medicine, they had the flexibility to work regular hours; they worked both outpatient and inpatient; and they had the flexibility to perform certain surgical procedures. Having seen and experienced this, I knew Internal Medicine was for me.”
Read more about Dr. Couture's journey in the UMHS Endeavour blog.
Mikayla Troughton, M.D.
Class of 2018
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology
University of Minnesota Physicians
Minneapolis, MN
UMHS 2018 graduate Dr. Mikayla Troughton is currently a physician anesthesiologist and assistant professor at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis, MN. She completed her residency in anesthesiology at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) in June 2022 and went on to complete an obstetric anesthesiology fellowship at McGraw Medical Center of Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. She is passionate about perioperative safety, high-risk obstetric care, critical care management, and reducing maternal morbidity and mortality.
She was interviewed for the UMHS Endeavour during the pandemic about her frontline work with COVID-19 patients and was a panelist on the 2022 UMHS livestream “Rural Medicine: Making a Difference in Underserved Areas.”
Read more about Dr. Troughton in her interview with the UMHS Endeavour blog.
Jenna Ulrich, M.D.
Class of 2018
Internal Medicine resident
Bridgeport Hospital
Bridgeport, CT
Dr. Jenna Ulrich ’18 did not start out wanting to become a doctor. In fact, she originally went to university for a policing degree (sometimes called Justice Administration), but after becoming ill in her early 20s, she developed a passion for health and wellness. The native of Severn, Ontario in Canada soon switched majors and eventually completed a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at York University, she said, because she “realized medicine was my calling.”
UMHS spoke to Dr. Ulrich about why she chose UMHS, how the students and professors she encountered gave her an invaluable support system for life, how UMHS helped her get an Internal Medicine residency at Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut (with ties to Yale University in New Haven), and more. Dr. Ulrich said she believes the clinical education she received at UMHS was key to her success on the road to residency. “UMHS provided me with the opportunity to learn from a variety of teaching hospitals across the U.S during my clinical years,” she said. “This gave me the chance to care for an assortment of patient populations. I think this will be an advantage in my future as a physician as no matter where my career takes me. I have a great base of knowledge of medical diseases that affect patients from the East to the West Coast.”
Read her interview in our blog for more insight into how UMHS gave her the necessary tools to become a great doctor.
April Frater, M.D.
Class of 2017
Family Medicine physician
Private practice
Hartselle, AL
Dr. April Frater ’17 is proof that “nontraditional” students can make dreams of becoming a doctor reality. She didn’t even think about becoming an M.D. until age 26. The native Canadian completed a Family Medicine residency at Tuscaloosa College of Community Health Sciences in Alabama in 2021 and is now a Family Physician in Alabama. Dr. Frater is happy she studied medicine at UMHS. “Attending medical school in the Caribbean has been one of the best experiences of my life,” she said.
Dr. Frater was already working in medicine when she decided to become an M.D. She trained to become a Medical Laboratory and X-ray Technologist and worked for about eight years at a hospital in her hometown of Kipling, Saskatchewan in Canada.
“I would come up with my own diagnosis for fun and then discuss with the doctor what I thought the diagnosis was and discuss their plan,” she said. “They would humor me and let me have my own fun. One particular doctor I worked with noticed that I was pretty good at ‘playing doctor’ and suggested I attend medical school. His suggestion kind of blew me away because not once in my life had I considered that. Once he said that to me, the thought never left my head, and here I am now having completed medical school and about to start residency.”
To learn more about how UMHS helped Dr. Frater go from “playing doctor” to actually becoming one, click here for her full story.
Kirsten Fill, M.D.
Class of 2017
Anesthesiology resident
Drexel University Hahnemann University Hospital
Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Kirsten Fill ’17 didn’t always plan on becoming a doctor. The Ontario, Canada native studied biomedical engineering at Queens University and started a corporate job after graduation, but decided she wanted something more rewarding. She decided to pursue the passion for medicine she developed as an undergraduate. Dr. Fill spoke to UMHS about why she was initially so impressed by the cadaver lab, high-tech classrooms and fun social activities in St. Kitts, the extensive Step 1 preparation at the Portland, Maine campus and her invaluable experiences in clinical rotations, and how she successfully made it through the Match process. Dr. Fill started an anesthesiology residency at Drexel University at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia in 2017.
Click here to read the UMHS Endeavour blog post on how UMHS helped Kirsten become a doctor.
Rohan Manocha, M.D.
Class of 2017
Family Medicine physician
Vennix Integrated Health
Tottenham, ON, Canada
Dr. Rohan Manocha ’17 is currently a Family Medicine doctor at Vennix Integrated Health in Tottenham, ON, Canada. He started his residency in Family Medicine at University of Toronto – Downtown in the summer of 2017 and was pleased to be returning to the Toronto area. Dr. Manocha grew up in nearby Richmond Hill and studied Kinesiology at Western University in London, Ontario.
An avid Toronto sports fan, Dr. Manocha realized he had a passion for medicine while taking anatomy and physiology courses as an undergrad and volunteering his time at the local hospital in his hometown of Richmond Hill. Dr. Manocha enjoys time with his family, something he likely had little time for during his journey through medical school at UMHS. UMHS spoke to Dr. Manocha about why he chose UMHS and how it specifically helped him obtain a prestigious residency back in his Canadian homeland. He also shared advice on how to get high scores on the USMLE exams and make the most of the residency Match process. "UMHS provided an avenue for me to fulfill my career goal of becoming a practicing physician in Canada,” he said.
Dr. Thivisa Rajagopal
Class of 2015
Family Medicine physician
St. Lawrence Health
Canton, NY
Dr. Thivisa Rajagopal ’15 is currently a Family Medicine physician, Board-Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine, practicing at St. Lawrence Health, an affiliate of Rochester Regional Health, in Canton, NY.
Dr. Rajagopal and husband Dr. Thushyanthan Pathmalingam both decided to attend UMHS when they had trouble getting into Canadian medical schools. Dr. Rajagopal immigrated to Canada from her native Sri Lanka at a young age and always wanted to be a doctor. She and her husband started Family Medicine residencies at the Washington Health System in Pennsylvania. Dr. Rajagopal completed her residency at Washington Hospital in August 2019. In a 2016 interview, she spoke about her experience at UMHS. “Every aspect of UMHS makes you become an independent, self-learning and brilliant doctor,” she said.
Read Dr. Thivisa Rajagopal's interview on her Family Medicine Residency at Washington Health System.
Lara Gizzi
Class of 2014
Emergency Medicine physician & Certified Neuromodulator Injector
BrightMD Beauty
Oakville, ON, Canada
Dr. Lara Gizzi ’14 is currently an Emergency Medicine physician and a Certified Neuromodulator (Botox) Injector at BrightMD Beauty in Oakville, ON, Canada. She completed a family medicine residency at the University of Ottawa in Canada.
Dr. Gizzi has a unique perspective on working in medicine in Canada. Dr. Gizzi initially met with an admissions representative and had a good feeling about UMHS, so she “took a risk” by applying to UMHS. Ultimately, she made the right decision to enter UMHS as a Canadian studying medicine abroad. The Toronto area native had missed a deadline to apply online to Canadian medical schools and did not wish to wait a full year before applying again.
UMHS spoke to Dr. Gizzi in an interview about the close connections she made with professors in St. Kitts and working as a teaching assistant to the challenges of living abroad on a tropical island, and the myriad of lessons learned during clinical rotations and electives in the USA and Canada. Dr. Gizzi adapted quickly to St. Kitts and the UMHS campus and bonded with her fellow students, realizing she was “surrounded by people in the same boat with the same fears,” all wanting to become doctors. Dr. Gizzi discussed what Canadians can expect before, during and after studying medicine at UMHS. “I did electives in plastic surgery and cardiology through McMaster University, as well as an elective in family medicine in a private practice in Toronto,” she said. “This most certainly assisted in my successful entry into residency in Canada. Having letters of reference from Canadian physicians and proof that I made it my prerogative to invest time learning in Canada was of utmost importance.”
David J Kadouri, M.D.
Class of 2012
Obstetrics and Gynecology physician
St. Vincent Hospital-Erie
Erie, PA
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Toronto native Dr. David Kadouri decided to study medicine at UMHS because he liked the sense of community at the school and the unique relationship between the student body and faculty.
The outstanding training he received at UMHS and through its clinical rotations helped him land a residency in OB/GYN at the prestigious Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Pennsylvania.
“The education at UMHS is extremely intimate; it is the perfect setup for an ambitious and eager student to thrive,” Dr. Kadouri says. “the class sizes are small, and there is a very personal feel.
My friends and faculty felt like family. Their sense of investment and genuine interest in my success was clear and palpable. My teachers were always available, and the roles and barriers of the usual student-teacher relationship didn’t exist. I could approach any member of faculty, from TA, to professor, up to the dean – with absolute comfort and ease, and they would give you their time to teach and help you succeed.”
