A Day in the Life of a PGY-4 Resident – Dr. Bandla

Maanasa Bandla, DO
Class of 2023

Hi everyone! My name is Maanasa Bandla and I’m a PGY-4 resident at BMC. Fourth year is a nice change of pace from the previous years. We no longer take call and we have the chance to rotate through different electives to find what best fits our interests and career goals.

Along with being a PGY-4, I am also one of the program’s chief residents. As a chief resident, I spend half the year focused on administrative tasks and leadership development and the other half on my chosen clinical rotations. I am currently on the administrative half of the year. I spend three days of the week at Bournewood hospital, which is a private hospital where are our interns have their inpatient psychiatry rotation and our second years have their inpatient adolescent rotation. We also have several third and fourth year medical students rotating through each rotation as well. So far my time at Bournewood has been amazing! I love being able to eat lunch and hang out with some of my co-residents whom I wouldn’t be able to see at work otherwise. I have also had a lot of fun creating a didactic schedule to prepare the medical students for their shelf exam and help the interns learn common topics they encounter on their inpatient rotations. Although I’ve missed the clinical aspect of training, I do recognize the importance of the development of physician leaders and am glad to have the wonderful mentorship and guidance. Once a week, I also see my outpatient continuity patients both at BMC and the VA, some which I’ve been seeing for three years!

The second half of the year, I will spend time on my chosen elective rotations along with my continuity clinics. It was pretty difficult choosing electives because we are offered many interesting and diverse options including HIV psychiatry, Neuromodulation psychiatry, the Refugee clinic, and the Psychosis clinic among many more options within BMC and the VA. Some of my interests include child and adolescent psychiatry, women’s mental health and global psychiatry. I chose to participate in electives focusing on transitional age youth diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Child and Adolescent Transgender Center for Health clinic. I am also hopeful to spend some time on a global elective as well!

When I’m not at work, I am usually hanging out with friends, trying new restaurants, or binging Bravo. I’ve loved my time in Boston and at BMC and although I am excited to start the next chapter of my career, I am going to dearly the many close friends and mentors I’ve made these past four years!

Written by Dr. Maanasa Bandla in September 2022