Reseacher Spotlight: Mehul Tejani

What is your professional background?
I am a general internist clinician-educator based at Grady. I also see patients at Grady’s outpatient HIV clinic on Ponce. While my prior scholarly work has been in HIV, I have been working towards scholarship in medical education, both for learners but also for peer education. Recently, I have become interested in the in the effects of climate change on health, but also the impact of healthcare on climate change.

In what division do you work, and who is your mentor?
I am in the Division of General Medicine, in the Grady section. But my mentor, Dr. Rebecca Philipsborn, is in the Department of Pediatrics. She has an extensive history of working in climate change and health, and she is largely responsible for many of the changes taking place within the Emory SOM curriculum on climate change.

Tell us about your FAME grant project, why it is important, and what it means to you to receive funding?
The medical school has made a commitment to incorporating topics in climate change and health into the curriculum across all 4 years, and the pediatrics residency program has also developed a formal program for this education. But so far, the internal medicine residency has had limited formal education on the topic. Furthermore, while there are several recommendations on integrating these topics into the regular curriculum, there is little in the way of outcomes research. My FAME grant project will introduce 3^rd year residents in the primary care track of the residency to climate change and health through a multimodal, longitudinal curriculum with the goal to assess changes in knowledge and skills, as well as observe for implementation of those skills in real life clinical settings.

What do you like most about Emory?
The thing that attracted me to Emory in the first place was the opportunity to work at Grady. I have really loved working there, but I have especially loved the amazing people I get to work with every day. I also am thankful to Emory for having so many opportunities to get involved, both at the medical school as well as within the Department of Medicine.  

What is your favorite movie or TV show?
The one show that I watch regularly is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
Spend time with my wife and 3 children, who are 10, 7, and 5. They keep us pretty busy with their activities, but we also like to travel and go to sporting events together.

What is a fun fact about you?
I recently took my interest in climate change and health and turned it into a stand-up comedy routine. My first and only gig was at the zoo as part of the Atlanta Science Festival in March.