Dr. Sharvari (pronounced “Sher–ver–ee”) Parghi just can’t stay still. She’s doing more than just working hard, though. In fact, she is extending her medical efforts above the standard and beyond our borders to care for the world at large. A dually certified internist and pediatrician, her medical career is one filled with options. Her heart, however, lies with caring for underprivileged populations.
Dr. Parghi first became interested in medicine during one of her childhood trips to India. The American–born child of two immigrant Indian parents, she visited her relatives each year, and was struck by the poverty so rampant in Indian society. The daughter of a microbiologist mother and an engineer father, Sharvari had a perfect pair of role models to follow in her pursuit of the sciences.
During her early education, she noticed her facility with math and science, but also took great interest in law and debate. Perhaps her efforts to rectify legal injustices were her first steps toward solving the injustices of health care around the globe.
The St. Louis native received her undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri–Columbia, receiving the highest honors. She then began medical school at the young age of 19, also at the University of Missouri–Columbia, where she became interested in both internal medicine and pediatrics. She continued her training at Baylor University, training in their combined medicine/pediatrics residency. While in her residency at Baylor, she had the opportunity to take part in international electives in Guatemala, caring for a rural community, and in Botswana, treating patients with HIV. She had found her calling.
Upon completing her residency, Parghi immediately sold her townhome and car, and went on a year–long journey of the world. She and her husband, Dr. Tarak Patel, a prominent San antonio pediatric pulmonologist and sleep specialist, lived out of their backpacks on less than $10 a day. Together they visited 12 countries over 4 continents, volunteering their medical expertise at every opportunity.
On their bold adventure, the couple had the opportunity to help countless villagers who would otherwise never have received care. In one of the medical camps, located in Kutch, India, they treated villagers that were displaced from the devastating earthquake in 2001. Dr. Parghi points out that even though they can care for a number of people, the real problems are a lack of emphasis on education and preventative care, and inadequate resources.
One of the saddest things the couple witnessed were so called “rag–pickers,” who are children that collect trash for a living. The payment for the children’s dangerous labor (e.g. sifting through uncapped needles) is that they can sell anything they find in the trash. Despite the sadness of witnessing the world’s poverty, Parghi says that the hardest part was returning to the U.S.: “You have this huge eye–opening experience of how everyone else lives in the world, and you just see how much we take for granted.”
Although Parghi would love to work in international health full–time, she feels that she will be more suited to help on a larger scale later in her career. Here in the U.S., Dr. Parghi is primarily a hospitalist, working at North Central Baptist Hospital and Methodist Children’s Hospital. She also works in the North Central Baptist Children’s ER. Instead of working in private practice, she enjoys the variety and excitement of caring for more acutely ill patients who have fewer resources at their disposal.
Years from now Dr. Parghi says she “would like to end up teaching, or in academics, or working in an underserved area.” She is interested not only in providing care at the ground level, but changing health care altogether. A savvy former student of debate, Parghi encourages today’s generations of doctors to take more of a political role in medicine. She points out that because of insufficient lobbying efforts, the government does not even fully reimburse vaccinations, making it financial suicide for physicians to offer the most basic preventative care. Parghi is trying to do her part as the Vice President of the Texas Indo–Physicians Society (TIPS) and as a member of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI). Parghi believes that as today’s generations are much more computer and business savvy, they have an obligation to affect change: “Health care, good or bad, has become a consumer product. and I think physicians have to embrace that reality.”
Dr. Sharvari Parghi was lucky enough to know what she wanted to do fairly early on. She notes that, for most people, the hardest part is knowing what to do with yourself when formal education is complete. Parghi offers reassurance to rising professionals: “Try not to feel so pressured to have all the answers. Your career will evolve and involve taking risks. We have opportunities here that nobody has. The potential that we have to reach and help people is incredible.”
Now about to have their first child, doctors Sharvari Parghi and Tarak Patel will have to tame their foreign voyages. Parghi is happy that they explored some of the more dangerous locales before they had children. Their next vacation will likely be in Australia or somewhere else more suited to a family. Though she has seen the world, she’s still getting around to seeing U.S. cities like New York, maybe when things slow down.
