Featured alumni: Gopal Allada, MD

Featured alumni, Gopal Allada

Gopal Allada, MD

Dr. Gopal Allada on a hike in France.
Above: a picture of Dr. Allada on a hike outside of Nice, France. "The weather was absolutely amazing, only rivaled by the food and wine!" he says.

Internal medicine residency 
Class of 1997

What is your current position and organization? 
I am currently working at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), as an associate professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care. I served as the OHSU adult cystic fibrosis director for over 15 years and was on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) Center committee and the national CFF Education committee. I am the general pulmonary clinic director at OHSU as well as the pulmonary clinic quality improvement director. I have been the medical director of the OHSU Physician Assistant program for eight years. 

How did your time at the University of Wisconsin (UW) help prepare you for the medical career you have now? 
I attained a foundational knowledge that allowed me to succeed in the next phase of my training (pulmonary and critical care fellowship). As a tertiary care center, UW exposed me to the most challenging patients in the state while working with some of the most accomplished physicians in the country.

What is a funny or fond memory you have of your time with the Department of Medicine? 
My residency class was an amazing group of people, not only for their clinical acumen, but their dedication, resilience and willingness to help each other. And we could muster up a pretty good basketball team when we had time away from the hospital. We also enjoyed many an occasion down at the Terrace on Lake Mendota.

Do you stay in touch with any of the DOM residents or fellows with whom you trained? Any faculty? If so, whom and why? 
We have all drifted apart to our respective lives, but I have stayed in touch with Nick Kenyon at our field’s annual pulmonary and critical care international conference. It’s a great time to catch up on life including his wonderful family, including his wife Kendra, who was also a UW internal medicine alum.

Is there any other information you’d like to share to let your fellow alums know what you’re up to? 
Since leaving residency, I’ve been in Portland, Oregon for almost 25 years. In my spare time, I enjoy the amazing landscape Oregon has to offer (lots of hiking and starting to do some biking) as well as the great food and wine in the region. 

Above: a picture of Dr. Allada (center-right) with his older brother's family in Théoule-sur-Mer, France, on the Mediterranean Sea. He says, "We just finished our weeklong adventure of hiking and biking in the French Riviera and are enjoying our last evening!"
Above: a picture of Dr. Allada (center-right) with his older brother's family in Théoule-sur-Mer, France, on the Mediterranean Sea. He says, "We just finished our weeklong adventure of hiking and biking in the French Riviera and are enjoying our last evening!"

I recently visited France with my brother’s family (right). He and his wife are pediatric cardiologists at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. My other brother was recently named the Director of the University of Michigan Neuroscience Institute and serving as the Chair of Neurobiology at Northwestern University. 

And as always, I still manage to find a way to see all the University of Michigan football games (but I root for UW as well when I can)!

Matt Mallum, MFA