One of OUWB’s newer faculty members has traded the beauty, sun, and sand of the Caribbean to teach future and current physicians in the U.S., and particularly, in Michigan.

Kesava Mandalaneni, MBBS, joined the Department of Foundational Medical Studies earlier this year.

He primarily teaches neurology and neuroscience to first- and second-year medical students and is also a co-course director. He’s also contributing to lectures in anesthesiology at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Royal Oak as well as serving as neurology course director for psychiatry residents.

Prior to joining OUWB, Mandalaneni taught at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Joining OUWB was meant to be, he says.

“The tagline for Grenada is ‘Pure Grenada,’” he says with a smile. “When I came to learn that the tagline for Michigan was ‘Pure Michigan,’ I knew it had to be destiny pushing me this way.”

Of course, Mandalaneni says there were many other reasons he wanted to join OUWB, ranging from the smaller class sizes to the school’s affiliation with Corewell Health.

“I was searching for a better opportunity for me and my family and a bigger canvas to showcase my skills,” he said. “OUWB welcomed me with open arms and has given me a chance. I’m very grateful.”

‘Curious to explore’

Mandalaneni is originally from India. Science and medicine have always been of interest to him.

When it came time for him to take the entrance test for admission to medical school, Mandalaneni says he “aced it” and was awarded a full scholarship to study medicine.

He earned a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, MBBS, (M.B.B.S.) from India’s Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences. (An MBBS is equivalent to an M.D. in the U.S.)

One aspect of medicine was particularly intriguing to him.

“If there is one subject I really love in medicine, it’s anything associated with the brain and spinal cord, whether it be neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, neurosurgery, or neuropathology,” he says.

Immediately after earning his medical degree, Mandalaneni briefly served as district medical monitor for the World Health Organization’s National Polio Surveillance Project in India. It wasn’t long before he was ready to move on.

“I was curious to explore and being a doctor was my passport to explore,” he says.

He had several opportunities in unique locations but settled on Grenada.

There, at St. George’s, he learned just about everything he knows about teaching. He began as a teaching and research fellow then went on to be an instructor and served as an assistant professor of Neuroscience.

He also chaired or was a member of several committees and held other leadership positions.

Mandalaneni says he’s committed to medical education because he views teaching as a natural extension of being a physician.

“Becoming a teacher is an essential component of becoming a physician,” he says. “You have to teach your younger colleagues so they can be better at it.”

Mandalaneni says he takes a great amount of pride in the number of students he’s taught and impacted over the years — and it’s a number in the thousands. He says each year’s class at St. George’s has up to 900 students. By comparison, each class at OUWB has about 125 students.

“Most of my former students are practicing physicians, predominantly in the United States,” he says. “I’m most proud of educating so many medical students who are really impacting people and their health and well-being in a positive way throughout the U.S. and world.”

Not one to rest on his laurels, Mandalaneni has continually sought to expand his own knowledge base.

During 2013-2018, for example, Mandalaneni participated in a European Master program in stroke medicine. He trained at locations in Austria, Italy, and Finland under the aegis of the European Stroke Organization.

‘So blessed’

While Mandalaneni is originally from India, he says he considers the tri-island nation of Grenada his home.

It makes sense, too, because he says he learned so much there and still has deep roots shaped by life-changing experiences.

He remains a pivotal administrator for the Grenada Heart Foundation, a member of the National Chronic Non-Communicable Disease Commission of Grenada, and a member of an advocacy group focuses on food labeling standards.

Further, he is not only a licensed medical practitioner but also a registered farmer in Grenada and has grown cilantro on what he calls a small commercial scale.

And his wife — also a medical doctor — and their two children still live in the family’s Grenada home, complete with large mango tree in the front yard and an avocado tree in the back. (His family is in the process of relocating to the U.S.)

There’s one thing in particular that he says has endeared him so much to Grenada.

“As much as we talk about the sun and beaches of Grenada, the people are amazing,” he says. “They welcomed me with open arms and took me in as one of their own.”

The good news, adds Mandalaneni, is that he has received a similar welcome from the OUWB community.

For example, when Hurricane Beryl recently devastated much of the island, “every single person from FMS and many from Corewell reached out” and asked about he and his family. They even collected funds to help with relief efforts for the island.

And he has big plans — from exploring northern Michigan and going to rock concerts to refining the courses he teaches at OUWB and working to establish programs between OUWB, Corewell Health, and hopefully, organizations in the Caribbean.

In short, Mandalaneni says he’s happy to be serving as “an ambassador for Pure Grenada in Pure Michigan and for Pure Michigan in Pure Grenada.”

“I’m so blessed to be here,” he says with a smile.

For more information, contact Andrew Dietderich, senior marketing specialist, OUWB, at [email protected].

To request an interview, visit the OUWB Communications & Marketing webpage.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.