MedEsthetics magazines offers business education and in-depth coverage of the latest noninvasive cosmetic procedures for physicians and practice managers working in the medical aesthetics industry.
Issue link: https://medesthetics.epubxp.com/i/101607
COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE ���I had some very strong mentors who were dermatologists,��� says Dr. Badreshia-Bansal. ���I wanted to see pediatric patients, but I also wanted a family-oriented practice and I felt dermatology would allow me to have a good balance in my own life between work and family as well.��� Dr. Bansal was originally interested in pediatric surgery, but his interest shifted to plastic and reconstructive surgery during training. ���Though I don���t work with pediatric patients now, Sonia and I are starting a cleft lip and palate clinic, called the RoseBush Clinics, abroad,��� he says. A Commitment to the Underserved Though their plans to open a joint practice did not come into full view until residency, there were early signs the couple was a strong team professionally as well as personally. During their time as undergraduates, Drs. Badreshia and Bansal helped launch an after-school program for disadvantaged children living in the Riverside, California area as part of a university community relations project initiative. At Penn State, the couple worked with second-year medical student Tim Weaver to create LION CARE, a studentrun clinic that provides free primary healthcare services to the homeless. ���The ���rst two years of medical school is just books, and I felt like that wasn���t what I had signed up for,��� says Dr. Bansal. ���And there were a lot of people in need of health care. We would go out to local homeless shelters with the ���rst- and second-year medical students and perform physical exams.��� LION CARE was one of the ���rst volunteer programs accepted by Americorps (americorps.gov), and it continues to operate today, offering free healthcare services to patients at the Bethesda Mission homeless shelter and providing health education and prevention programs covering topics such as hypertension and diabetes. 60 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 | MedEsthetics ���She saw the bene���t of offering dermatology and plastics together in a private practice.��� The Move to Private Practice During residency, the couple���s paths appeared to diverge. Dr. Bansal had the goal of entering academic medicine, while Dr. Badreshia-Bansal was focused on private practice. ���I love to teach, so I wanted to go into academic medicine and work my way up. Sonia wanted to practice in an environment where she could spend more time with the patients,��� says Dr. Bansal. ���And she saw the bene���t of offering dermatology and plastics together in a private practice.��� Dr. Badreshia-Bansal won out and, with some help from their families and a bank loan, the two physicians established their ���rst of���ce in downtown Danville, California, a wealthy suburb of Oakland and San Francisco. ���We were fortunate to have bought our own space directly out of residency,��� says Dr. Badreshia-Bansal, though the couple admits they were a bit naive at the start. After working with an attorney to form their medical corporation and securing their hospital privileges, they had to wait two years for construction on the new facility to be completed���a project estimated to take a few months. Launching Elite MD in 2009 with one staff member and no patients, the ambitious couple set about growing the ���edgling practice. Their entrepreneurial skills���