Pratima Gupta, MD: SFMS November Member of the Month December 3, 2015 Member of the Month, SFMS Member Member of the Month, Pratima Gupta, SFMS Member 0 Dr. Pratima Gupta received a medical degree from Keck USC School of Medicine and Master of Public Health from University of California at Berkeley. She completed her residency at LAC+USC Medical Center and fellowship in family planning at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Gupta has worked with Kaiser Permanente for nearly 8 years focusing primarily on increasing access to family planning and education of residents and medical students, adolescent and transgender care, and global health. Dr. Gupta holds faculty appointments at UCSF and is the volunteer medical director of St. James Infirmary, a free clinic for sex workers in San Francisco. She is a member of the California Family Health Council Board of Directors and is not only a SFMS delegate to the CMA House of Delegates, but also serves on the Mayor of San Francisco's Anti-Human trafficking Task force and ACOG’s District IX legislative committee. Dr. Gupta enjoys adventures in San Francisco and abroad with her husband and two year old son as well as baking and doing triathlons and running races. Click here to view Dr. Pratima Gupta's practice information. Why are you a SFMS member? As an abortion provider and the volunteer medical director for St James Infirmary (a free clinic in SF serving current and former sex workers), I believe that it is essential to offer all San Francisco residents non-judgmental, evidence-based care. People move to SF from around the world due to our progressive policies and welcoming communities. The SFMS offers physician support and networking opportunities so that providers may collaborate to ensure the best possible care for our diverse patients. In addition, as medical professionals, we are poised to be excellent advocates. We have a breadth of first hand experiences and patient stories to draw upon. Physicians have high public trust, and the SFMS allows us to leverage our position to benefit society. Which SFMS member resource is most helpful to you? The state and national advocacy updates since we, as physicians, are in a unique position to promote social, economic, educational, and political changes. We can ground our advocacy in evidence. In fact, the skills we already use to advocate for individual patients can be used for policy advocacy.d What do you like to do when you’re not at work? Run in Golden Gate Park or in the Marin headlands, bike across the Golden Gate bridge, swim in Aquatic park, giggle and explore with my 2-year-old, adventure travel, volunteer. What is the most important thing you learned in medical school or residency? Never make an assumption about a patient, a family member, a colleague, or a staff member. People will always impress and surprise you--that is what keeps our job as physicians interesting since we are constantly learning from our patients. What are some of the biggest opportunities or challenges you see in health care within the next five year? The constant attacks on reproductive health care--from defunding Planned Parenthood to the Hyde Amendment to contraception mandates/exceptions in Obamacare. Reproductive health care has become one of the most divisive political issues of our time, and I foresee it continuing to impact our ability to care for our patients in the manner they deserve. What do you love most about practicing OB/GYN? I love hearing patient stories and learning about the positive birth experiences or the challenges of a loss or the difficulty pregnancy decision that our patients endure. I thrive off of my patient’s energy and am impressed with the trust and openness that they put in us simply because we are their physicians. It is a tremendous responsibility that we incur to take care of them, and it is our duty to respect this. I also love the bright eyes of a new medical student/resident as I teach them to do their first abortion and/or place their first IUD. What is the best piece of advice you have been given throughout your career so far? No matter how busy you get, try and make time for the things you still enjoy that are outside of medicine. Whether it is time with your family/friends, exercise, cooking, etc, don’t give it up just because you feel too bogged down with hospital work or too tired. I try and find time to exercise 6-7 days a week (even the day that I went into labor). I find that if I sleep another 30 minutes, I am still tired, but if I run for 30 minutes, I am much more invigorated about my day. Who is your favorite music artist/band? The Cranberries What is your favorite restaurant in San Francisco? State Bird Provisions and Chow on Church.. If you weren't a physician, what profession would you like to try? Something in hospitality--professional organizer/wedding planner or pastry chef. Comments are closed.
