Finding a Home in Her Hometown

Aekta Miglani (’04, MD ’10, Res ’13) didn’t expect to stay local. Now, she’s a leader in Strong’s Emergency Department as it embarks on record-breaking growth.

What kind of place could take someone who wanted to go far away—as far as the moon, say—and entice her to stay right where she was?

As a child, Aekta Miglani (’04, MD ’10, Res ’13) wanted to grow up to be an artist or architect, or maybe even an astronaut. She dreamed big, and her parents encouraged her through it all. But they also shared the future they saw for her: a career in medicine.

When it came time to apply to college, Miglani, who grew up in Pittsford, New York, wanted to prove her parents wrong. “My plan was to apply to the University of Rochester’s undergraduate-to-medical school program and show my parents that I could get in, after which it would be clear to everyone that medicine would not be the right path for me,” says Miglani.

Sure enough, she was accepted into the University’s Rochester Early Medical Scholars (REMS) program, which grants select students admission to both the undergraduate College and the School of Medicine and Dentistry (SMD). But when Miglani met with her advisor and head of REMS, Gregory Connors, MD, he told her something she didn’t expect.

“He said that as a college student at Rochester, I could still pursue my creative interests and that the best physicians use both sides of their brain,” she adds. “I was intrigued and quickly realized that medicine could very well be a good fit.” Her parents were right after all.

Because Miglani was already accepted into the medical school, she had proven her aptitude for the sciences. This meant she could take full advantage of the University’s flexible undergraduate curriculum, which she did. She took courses in art, religion, and philosophy—and she loved it all.

Would she ever leave?

At the end of her senior year of college, Miglani was a bit nervous about the pending demands of medical school. That’s when she met Flavia Nobay, MD, a recent transplant to Rochester and the new director of the REMS program, who inspired and reassured her. Nobay—now a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine and the associate dean for student affairs— and others like her reaffirmed Miglani’s decision to become a physician.

Miglani has never looked back. As she finished medical school, she was on track to pursue a surgical residency.

She did her final clinical rotation, in her fourth year of medical school, in emergency medicine. “After the second or third shift in Strong Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Department, I realized that this was the place for me,” she says. “I fell for the people who worked in the ED and their approach to medicine.”

When it came time to match for her residency, the University of Rochester’s medical school became Miglani’s first choice—again.

By the time her three-year residency ended, Miglani had become one of the ED’s chief residents. She thought it was finally time to leave Rochester.

But then her mother was diagnosed with cancer, so Miglani needed to stay nearby. She spoke with Michael Farhad Kamali, MD (Res ’01), a professor and the chair of the ED, about staying another year. “Dr. Kamali told me that I could stay, but that I might never want to leave. He was right.”

Since completing her residency in 2018, Miglani has served in several roles within the ED and is currently its vice chair of operations and medical director.

There have been many highlights. In the early days of COVID, Strong sent Miglani and a small team to New York City to treat patients. “We came back with tools that helped us manage our ED response when COVID hit Rochester hard,” she says.

Miglani has also been involved in community outreach programs, including programs with the Rochester City School District that encourage students to explore careers in medicine. In 2021, Miglani was nominated for a Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce ATHENA Award, which recognizes women leaders in the community.

The largest capital project in University history

More than 110,000 patients visited the ED in 2021, in a space designed to serve less than half that number. Strong ED’s overcrowded waiting room and treatment areas are just some of the issues that the Strong Expansion Project will address in phases, with scheduled completion in 2027.

The project, the largest capital project in the University of Rochester’s history, will nearly quadruple the ED’s footprint. It will create a designated triage area, separate waiting rooms, and private treatment areas for adult and pediatric patients. It also will house the Comprehensive Psychiatry Emergency Program and the Kessler Trauma Center.

Plans also include a new nine-story inpatient-bed tower, which will add floors for cardiovascular care, short-term patient observation, and future operating rooms and treatment services, along with additional private inpatient rooms.

Until that happens, Miglani and the ED staff will continue to use every space possible to treat patients, from hallways to former staff areas to makeshift patient and family consultation areas.

“It’s challenging, but we do our best,” she says. “This is our community, and we are here to serve it.”

Support the Strong Expansion Project at www.urmc.rochester.edu/ emergency-medicine/ways-to-give.