PGY-1

Catherine (Cate) Hendren, PGY-1
Cate hails from North Carolina. She majored in Latin American Studies at Davidson College and then worked in health advocacy in Asheville, NC, and in Tecpán, Guatemala. Those experiences exposed her to the ways geography and language shape access to medical care and inspired her to become a physician. After completing medical school pre-requisites at the University of Virginia, she attended medical school at the University of North Carolina. At UNC, she joined the school’s global health scholarly concentration researching access to HIV care in rural, western Uganda, was active in its medical Spanish program working with Spanish-speaking communities in COVID testing, vaccination, and plasma donation efforts, and served as a graduate editor for its medical humanities journal. Her career interests include global health, narrative medicine, palliative care, and infectious disease. She is thrilled to join UMass Med-Peds and to explore her new home in New England.

Annelie Leith, PGY-1
Annelie grew up in southeast Michigan, and first came to Massachusetts several years ago as an undergraduate at Harvard University. There, she became an EMT through the on-campus emergency service “CrimsonEMS,” and went on to help teach the EMT certification course and earn the campus a HeartSafe designation. Having fallen in love with patient care, medical education, and serving a greater community, Annelie returned to her home state for medical school at the University of Michigan (the “other” UMMS), and continued mentoring and teaching pre-medical and younger medical students throughout her four years (including leading outdoor orientation trips for new M1s, a highlight of her time). Initially unsure of what she wanted to pursue, she was ultimately impressed with the med-peds community while caring for complex patients with congenital or genetic conditions that require extra care and attention to transition from pediatric to adult care. She is particularly interested in pediatric cardiology and believes she will (most likely) pursue a fellowship in the field after graduation… but is excited for the breadth of training at UMass and is eager to explore the many other paths that med-peds has to offer, as well! An outdoors enthusiast, Annelie is thrilled to be back in Mass and in her free time can be found hiking, skiing, rock climbing, SCUBA diving, running, or walking her dog with her husband; she also enjoys caring for her two pet snakes, weightlifting, playing piano, singing, woodworking, and baking.

Anjali Oberoi, PGY-1
Anjali grew up in Newton, Massachusetts and attended Boston University where she studied Neurobiology and Public Health. After graduation, she stayed at Boston University and continued research on family and cultural aspects of chronic illness and disability across the lifespan. For medical school, she earned her MD and MPH at the Tufts University School of Medicine. At Tufts she was involved in the admissions committee and the Health Justice Scholars Program. Anjali found Med/Peds as the perfect home for her interests in caring for patients with chronic illness in all phases of life. While exploring the many career paths Med/Peds and UMass have to offer, Anjali is excited to continue community-partnered research and to discover a new part of her home state. In her free time you can find her exploring all the local ice cream spots, perfecting a homemade vanilla latte, taking spontaneous trips to the beach or racing with herself on a stationary bike.

Bennett grew up in Belmont, MA. He attended Harvard College where he studied chemical and physical biology and obtained a minor in global health and health policy. Throughout his time in college, he engaged in international travel through model united nations conferences, which was like running a small business. He has also annually raised money to fund cancer research for over a decade through the Pan Mass Challenge – a 200-mile bike ride across the commonwealth. After college, his interests in business and science led him to work as a pharmaceutical and medical device business advisor for two years. This taught him plenty about the medical system and its key stakeholders. During this time, he also volunteered as a patient navigator in a blood donor bank. He then attended UMass Chan Medical School, where he fell in love with Med-Peds given its breadth of work, friendly community, and flexibility of training opportunities. His consistent passions include legislative advocacy, health systems science, and quality improvement. He aspires to work as a leader in healthcare with an active clinical practice. His research interests include bone marrow transplant and infectious diseases. When not on the wards you’ll find him biking the hills of Worcester and Wachusett Mountain or enjoying a trip to the theater or a museum.