Seeking Some Precision
Siddhant Kulkarni (B.S. ’15, M.S. ’19, D.O. ’19) wants to take diagnostic radiology, the medical specialization of obtaining images of the inside of the body, several paces ahead. A fourth-year resident in diagnostic radiology at Northwell Health, Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, N.Y., Kulkarni is looking at something more precise. Interventional radiology is focused on minimally invasive procedures, including traditional open surgeries being done with very small incisions. “Basically, it’s just needles and using advanced imaging,” says Kulkarni. “It’s an up-and-coming field in medicine, and I think there are going to be a lot of changes within it throughout my career.”
Kulkarni was always thinking ahead and began to plan his career path right out of high school. The New Jersey native envisioned his next seven—which would become eight—years of study at New York Tech, where he earned three degrees. As an undergrad, Kulkarni immersed himself in student culture, living on campus as a resident assistant, and later joining the Academic Medicine Scholars Program, which added an extra year to his seven-year degree and led to his master’s in 2019. “It literally just kept going,” jokes Kulkarni of the back-t0-back studies. “I thought, ‘I’m going do this, and I guess I can do that, too.’” As he was researching cerebellar malformations, Kulkarni was also teaching first- and second-year medical students in labs and lectures of up to 300 students. “I was helping run the anatomy lab and doing the prosections, then giving lectures,” says Kulkarni. “That experience helped me realize that I really enjoy teaching, and it’s something I’ve been trying to incorporate into my career as I progress.”
In any field, success just comes down to attitude, says Kulkarni. “I think as long as you’re excited about what you’re doing and have the right attitude about whatever you’re coming in to—whether that’s work or school or a class—coming into any situation with the right attitude makes the difference,” he says. “Even in tough times, when some things aren’t going your way, it’s easy to have a not-so-great attitude about things. But try to always maintain that positive attitude. That helps you and everyone around you.
