Dr. Sunthosh Venkata Parvathaneni on Fighting Malnutrition

Whether it was volunteering in high school with key club, visiting local orphanages and Boys and Girls Clubs, at a soup kitchen while in medical school or as part of the emergency disaster relief for Hurricane Katrina while doing his internal medicine residency in Dallas—Dr. Sunthosh (Sunny) Venkata Parvathaneni (Springfield Cardiac Electrophysiology Runner-Up) is always looking for ways to give back to the community. “I have a really long history of volunteerism, and I just really think it’s an important part of being a physician that’s grounded in the community,” Parvathaneni says. 

Before taking a short break this year when his wife gave birth to twins, his latest adventure in volunteering had been serving at Ozarks Food Harvest. “Volunteering allows you to give back to the community in ways that sometimes aren’t possible through the health care system,” he says. “For example, sorting food and preparing meals at Ozarks Food Harvest helps them battle malnutrition. Malnutrition is one of the biggest reasons why we end up with a lot of sickness, illness and hospital admissions. So in a way I am still doing health care work, but I’m doing it through a volunteer program to help prevent people from getting into that state.”

Parvathaneni thinks volunteering in the community is the best way for physicians to stay on top of their game. “I think physicians get burnt out because they’re continuously doing the same thing day in and day out and dealing with the same frustrations,” he says. “When you get an opportunity to volunteer it helps you remember why you went into this field in the first place. It gives something back to the physician and reignites the flame on why we are doing what we’re doing.”