![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/adv\/alumni-news-media\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/DrMiglani_resized.jpg\")
Aekta Miglani \u201904, \u201910 (MD), \u201913M (Res), vice chair of operations and medical director of Strong’s ED<\/p><\/div>\n
As a child, Aekta Miglani \u201904, \u201910 (MD), \u201913M (Res) wanted to be an artist or an architect someday. Or maybe even an astronaut. She dreamed big. Her parents encouraged her varied interests while underscoring the future they saw for her: they thought she should pursue a career in medicine.<\/p>\n
When it came time to apply to college, Miglani, who grew up in Pittsford, NY, wanted to prove her parents wrong (as many teenagers do). \u201cMy plan was to apply to the University of Rochester\u2019s undergraduate-to-medical school program and show my parents that I could get in, after which it would be clear to everyone that medicine would not be the right path for me,\u201d says Miglani.<\/p>\n
A new plan<\/h3>\n
Miglani\u2019s plan started off as she imagined: she was accepted into the University\u2019s Rochester Early Medical Scholars (REMS) program<\/a>, which grants select students admission to both the undergraduate College and the School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD). Soon after, she did what she was supposed to do and met with her advisor, Gregory Connors, MD, the head of REMS. Connors told Miglani what she didn\u2019t expect to hear.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said that as a college student at Rochester, I could still pursue my creative interests and that the best physicians use both sides of their brain,\u201d she adds. \u201cI was intrigued and quickly realized that medicine could very well be a good fit.\u201d Her parents were right after all.<\/p>\n And, because Miglani was already accepted into SMD, she had proven her aptitude for the sciences. This meant she could take full advantage of Rochester\u2019s flexible undergraduate curriculum, which she did. For instance, she took courses in art, religion, and philosophy\u2014and she loved it all.<\/p>\n At the end of her senior year of college, Miglani was a bit nervous about the pending demands of medical school. That\u2019s when she met Flavia Nobay, MD<\/a>, a recent transplant to Rochester and the new director of the REMS program, who inspired and reassured her.<\/p>\n \u201cI was awestruck by Dr. Nobay\u2019s knowledge and presence,\u201d noted Miglani. \u201cI thought: Rochester attracts the most amazing people.\u201d Nobay\u2014now a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the associate dean for student affairs\u2014and others like her reaffirmed Miglani\u2019s decision to become a physician.<\/p>\n Miglani has never looked back. At the end of medical school, she was on track to pursue a surgical residency. Then, in her fourth and final year of medical school, Miglani did her final clinical rotation in emergency medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the second or third shift in Strong Memorial Hospital\u2019s emergency department, I realized that this\u2014not surgery\u2014was actually the place for me,\u201d she says. \u201cI fell for the people who worked in the ED and their approach to medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n When it came time to match for her residency, Rochester became Miglani\u2019s first choice\u2014again. She wanted to stay in Strong\u2019s ED and she did.<\/p>\n After her three-year residency ended, Miglani\u2013who had become one of the ED’s chief residents\u2013thought it was finally time to leave Rochester. Fate intervened though; her mother was diagnosed with cancer and Miglani needed to stay nearby. She spoke with Michael Farhad Kamali ’01M (Res), MD<\/a>, a professor and the chair of the ED, about staying another year. \u201cDr. Kamali told me that I could stay, but that I might never want to leave\u2014he was right.\u201d<\/p>\n Since completing her residency in 2018, Miglani has served in a variety of roles within the ED and is currently its vice chair of operations and medical director. \u201cThe ED is a special place,\u201d she says. \u201cEveryone is guided by a certain ethos and a commitment to each other and all those who come to us for help.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a career full of milestones, too. For instance, in the early days of COVID, Strong sent Miglani and a small health care team to New York City to treat patients. \u201cWe got through a giant bag of unknowns and came back with tools that helped us manage our ED response when COVID hit Rochester hard,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Miglani has also been involved in many community outreach programs, including programs with the Rochester City School District that encourage students to explore careers in medicine. In 2021, Miglani was nominated for a Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce ATHENA Award, too, which recognizes top women leaders in the community.<\/p>\n More than 110,000 patients visited the ED in 2021 in a space designed to serve less than half of that number of people. Strong ED\u2019s overcrowded waiting room and treatment areas are just some of the issues that the Strong Expansion Project<\/a> will address in phases, with scheduled completion in 2027.<\/p>\n The project, the largest capital project in the University of Rochester\u2019s history, will nearly quadruple the ED\u2019s footprint and will have a designated triage area, distinctive waiting rooms and private treatment areas for adult and pediatric patients, and will house the Comprehensive Psychiatry Emergency Program and the Kessler Trauma Center. Plans also include a new nine-story inpatient bed tower, which will add additional floors for cardiovascular care, short-term patient observation, and future operating rooms and treatment services, along with more private inpatient rooms.<\/p>\n Until that happens, Miglani and the ED staff will continue to use every space possible to treat patients, from hallways to former staff areas to make-shift patient and family consultation areas. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging, but we do our best,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is our community, and we are here to serve it.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” background_color=”#00205b” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n For information on how to support the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Strong Expansion Project<\/a>, contact Jennifer Koehnlein<\/a>.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”grid” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1677522075387{border-top-width: 1px !important;padding-top: 10px !important;border-top-color: #999999 !important;border-top-style: solid !important;}”]<\/p>\n \u2014 Kristine Kappel Thompson, February 2023<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”25px” image_repeat=”no-repeat”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a child, Aekta Miglani \u201904, \u201910 (MD), \u201913M (Res) wanted to be an artist or an architect someday. Or maybe even an astronaut. She dreamed big. Her parents encouraged her varied interests while underscoring the future they saw for her: they thought she should pursue a career in medicine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":63732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,142],"tags":[272,552,192,722,1122,922],"class_list":["post-63032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-profiles","category-stories","tag-alumni","tag-covid-19","tag-health-and-medicine","tag-rochester","tag-school-of-medicine","tag-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nMeeting the right people<\/h3>\n
A career full of milestones<\/h3>\n
Strong Expansion Project<\/h3>\n
Join us<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n