Anita Kodali no longer tells hurting patients that she understands their pain. Following her own sudden and unexpected encounter with health care from the other end of the stethoscope, the words, “I understand,” ring hollow in her ears. Instead, the soon-to-be anesthesiology resident and 2024 graduate from Carle Illinois College of Medicine leans into both her medical training and a hard-won depth of empathy to meet patients where they are.
“There’s this bad rap that pain patients get that they’re mean, or they complain. But honestly, why wouldn’t they? I’ve been there, and it’s not a good place to be. You just never know what is going on [with a patient], and the way each person processes things is very different,” Kodali explained.
In the Spring of 2021, Kodali was a second-year medical student when she was knocked out and knocked flat by a drunk driver as she walked along University Avenue in Champaign with a group of friends. One day, she was rounding for her obstetrics and gynecology clerkship at Carle Foundation Hospital. The next night, Kodali was a patient in the hospital’s emergency department with multiple serious injuries. “I went in and out of consciousness, and there were doctors and residents working on me. I was in the hospital for a week with vertebral fractures, clavicle, scapula, ribs… a pretty bad concussion. My C-1 (vertebrae) was fractured in three different places,” she said.
For the first seven weeks after the accident, Kodali was not allowed to walk, bathe, or go to the bathroom by herself. For months, she was confined within a metal halo brace that bolted to her skull, restricting nearly every movement to protect her injured spine. The accident upended every facet of Kodali’s life, including her sense of self and the forward progress of her medical career. “I was really angry because not only has this thing happened to you, but it changes you as a person, and I liked who I was before. [Before the accident], I was continuing to improve and become a better person, and then this boulder comes and hits you, and you have to work with this new shape that you’re in right now,” Kodali said.
She took a ten-month leave of absence before returning to CI MED to finish her MD requirements with the Class of 2024. She was one year behind her original schedule and still feeling the pain and fatigue from her injuries. “I felt like I lost a year and a half of my life,” Kodali said. “What made the anger go down over time was all these silver linings that came with it: First, we couldn’t ignore the fact that I’m not paralyzed from the neck down, or that I’m not dead. I did come back, my brain still works, my body still works, and I still have my friends and family and my husband going through this with me,” she said.
Through all the complications, Kodali never wavered in her commitment to a career in medicine. With time, her personality and personal experiences pointed her in a new direction – toward residency training in anesthesiology. A Dartmouth College graduate with a degree in mathematics, Kodali gravitated toward the culture in anesthesiology practice, as well as the procedural and algorithmic aspects. “You’re analyzing data in real time and making adjustments, and I guess in a beautiful way, it ties back to everything that I liked about math, and it also brings in my personal experience,” she said.
“When I did my rotation in surgery, the anesthesia week was so satisfying to me because I get to put people out of this potential of pain or current pain every single day. Maybe it’s selfish but it helped me breathe a little easier knowing they won’t have to experience some things that I did,” she said.
“I think I would like to be a comforting presence for patients, as well as a knowledgeable presence.” -- Anita Kodali, MD Class of 2024
In July, she will begin a transitional year of graduate medical training at Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals in Milwaukee, and then move to the University of Chicago to complete her anesthesiology residency. During that time, she plans to use her math skills and the innovator’s mindset that she developed at CI MED to pursue new solutions that advance patient care. She’s also interested in teaching someday.
But before taking the next step, Kodali will celebrate convocation with the Class of 2024, along with her husband and the family and friends who supported her during her most difficult moments. “It’s a big accomplishment for all of us. I don’t know if they ever thought they would see me be a person again, so it will be very emotional for them. It’s a testament to a family working together to help each other out and produce this accomplishment.”
Anita Kodali is one of 39 CI MED students who will receive their MD degrees at convocation ceremonies on May 4, 2024. The group is CI MED’s third graduating class. A week later, she will participate in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s graduation ceremonies, along with her husband Taylor Rioux, who will receive his juris doctorate from the Illinois School of Law.
Editor’s note: Kodali credits many in the CI MED community with supporting her during her recovery from a life-altering accident. They include her classmates and friends, Dr. Bailey MacInnis (Class of 2023) and Brittany Vill (Class of 2024); Former Associate Dean for Student Affairs Danny Teraguchi; Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Heather Wright and the Student Affairs team, for going above and beyond to ease the transition back to medical school, and for assistance during the residency match process; and Professor Imanni Sheppard for guidance and instruction in writing about this experience as part of CI MED’s Narrative Medicine course that was instrumental in Kodali’s healing process.