Avani Patel, MD

Avani is currently a PGY-2 at the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center with plans to pursue a child and adolescent fellowship in the future. She earned her Doctor of Medicine at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in May 2020 and Master’s in Healthcare Administration with emphasis on executive level leadership at Oklahoma State University Graduate College in May 2020. She completed her fourth year of medical school in 2019, and took an interim year this past year to pursue her passions in advocacy, policy, and health care administration before starting residency training.

Avani is currently a Medical Justice in Advocacy Fellow through the American Medical Association and Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine. She also serves on the AMA-RFS Committee on Business and Economics and sectional delegate in the AMA-RFS. In addition, she has served two terms on the AMA Ambassador Steering Committee. In the past, she has been very involved with the MSS serving as Region III Membership Chair; Membership, Engagement, and Recruitment Standing Committee member; Women in Medicine Standing Committee member; and Hospitality Convention. She is currently serving her second term as Resident Trustee on the Board of Trustees for Mississippi State Medical Association (MSMA) and has served two terms on the MSMA Board of Trustees in the past as a medical student. She was also awarded three different awards for her involvement in advocacy and policy in addition to the physician social media movement on a state level. She has served as a delegate to the MSMA House of Delegates for the last six years. She is also very strongly involved in policy and advocacy, specifically with Scope of Practice and the #MaskUp campaign.

During her interim year, Avani pursued a Master’s in Health Care Administration degree with emphasis on high-level executive leadership graduating number one of her class while working part-time at both Mississippi State Medical Association as a membership, media, and marketing manager and as a credentialing coordinator of Mississippi Physicians Care Network to acquire exposure into the realm of business in healthcare. In addition to her part-time jobs and degree candidacies, Avani was selected for and served as a participant of the AMA Foundation Leadership Development Institute and JAMA Medical Student Leadership Group with two publications in JAMA and another manuscript accepted.

Outside of school and extracurricular involvement, Avani recharges by spending quality time with her family and friends and through nurturing her passion for cars, beauty, and fashion. She also loves to write and has been blogging for Merck Manuals the last 6 years having published 180+ articles on works such as “Personal Branding,” “Prescription for Effective Lobbying,” “Application Series,” and “Ten Tips on Twitter Etiquette for Medical Professionals.”