Rajesh Thampy, MD, joined the University of Minnesota Medical School Radiology Department in the Thoracoabdominal Division as an assistant professor in late March 2020, just as the University closed its campus due to the Coronavirus pandemic. While he has worked in isolation for much of his first few months here, he says his first faculty job has been only a positive experience.  

“The orientation has been good, and I am so pleased to be working with excellent systems and equipment,” he said.

Originally from the state of Kerala, India, on the tropical Malabar Coast at the southern tip of the country, Thampy completed medical school and his radiology residency at Government Medical College in the city of Trivandrum.

He brings a diversity of diagnostic radiology experience gained through fellowships he completed in the U.S. and working as a radiologist in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for four years. Thampy completed a pediatric radiology fellowship at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC; a neuroradiology fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina; and three body imaging fellowships at MD Anderson Cancer Center and University of Texas Health Center in Houston, Texas. 

He works with radiology residents at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Hospital and the Clinic and Surgery Center. Thampy has a particular interest in liver and prostate diagnostic imaging and aspires to be involved in research in the future.   

“I am excited about the facilities available here, including the CMMR and the research support team. Because I have experience in several different areas, I hope to work with and support colleagues throughout the department,” he said.

Although Thampy and his family moved to Plymouth, Minnesota, during the Coronavirus pandemic amid various closures and lock-downs, he says his children, 7 and 13, have made more friends virtually in Minnesota in six months than they have made over the last six years.  Thampy’s spouse, Nishitha Pillai, MD, also works for the University of Minnesota Medical School in the Division of Genetics and Metabolism.