AKMG - Florida Chapter

Dr. Sreekanth Viswanathan
Neonatologist, Orlando, Florida

Dr Sreekanth Viswanathan is the Interim Chief of Neonatology at Nemours Children's Hospital, Orlando, FL and Professor of Pediatrics at University of Central Florida College of Medicine. . Dr. Viswanathan received his medical degree from Govt. Medical College, Calicut, India. He has completed residencies in pediatrics at MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, and Madras Medical College, Chennai, India, and a fellowship in neonatology from Cleveland Clinic/MetroHealth Program. He also holds a master's degree in clinical research from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. His research interests include infant nutrition, body composition, GI motility, and feeding disorders, and well published in this area. He is a committee member of the pediatric special interest group at Dysphagia Research Society (DRS), an Associate Editor of the journal Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology, and Co-Director of Nemours Summer Research program.

He lives with his wife Dr. Priti Purushothaman, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist (Private Practice), and twin daughters- Shreya and Shruti, in Lake Nona, Orlando.

Reena Kavilaveettil, MD
Neurologist, Tampa, Florida

Dr. Kavilaveettil is a Neurologist with nearly two decades of experience in the Tampa Bay Area. She graduated from Kottayam Medical College, she received neurology and clinical neurophysiology fellowship training at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She is board certified in Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology and Electro-Diagnostic Medicine. For several years, Dr. Kavilaveettil has been an integral part of the Advent Hospital Tampa, where she held positions such as the Vice Chairman of the Neuroscience Department and Co-director of the Epilepsy Unit. Although she stopped hospital consultations in 2023, she continues to contribute to the hospital's Ethic Committee and Peer Review Committee. Dr. Kavilaveettil has been an integral part of AKMG FL Chapter for the last two years.

Jazbeen Mahmood, MD
Baycare Urgent Care, Saint Petersburg, Florida

Born to parents hailing from the Malabar side of Kerala, Dr.Mahmood grew up in Gulf (Bahrain). She completed MBBS from Mysore and Family Medicine Residency at Bayfront Hospital in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Dr. Mahmood worked as a primary care physician at Florida medical clinic in their Tampa location for several years. Currently, Dr. Mahmood working at Baycare Urgent Care in St. Petersburg and Largo locations.

Usha Mohandas, MD, FACP
Internal Medicine, Orlando, Florida

Dr.Usha Mohandas is an Internist with more than 30 yrs of experience She is an alumni of Calicut medical college, completed her Internal medicine residency from Interfaith Medical center, Brooklyn, NY. Board certified in Internal Medicine and specialized in Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine ,currently practicing value based care for the Geriatric population in Orlando FL. She serves as an Associate Medical Director for Centerwell Orlando( Humana ) and as a Team Physician with Vitas Hospice She is a 25 year life member of AKMG. She served as the Co-Chair of the 2011 Alaska Cruise Convention and Convention Chair of the 2016 Miami Convention She was the 41st President of AKMG during the 2019-2020 covid period and hosted the first AKMG Virtual Annual Convention after cancellng the planned AKMG 2020 Cruise Convetion..She has been an integral part of AKMG Florida Chapter.

Benjamin Tharian, MD
Gastroenterologist, Saint Petersburg, Florida

Dr Tharian is a board certified gastroenterologist and Chief of Endoscopy, BayFront Health, St Pete. He is a graduate of Government Medical College Trivandrum and did MD in General Medicine from Government Medical College Kottayam before moving to UK. He did his residency and fellowship from the Cambridge, Manchester & Ireland Deaneries and interventional endoscopy fellowship from the US. His main interests are minimally invasive endoscopic resections of GI lesions, third space endoscopy, anti reflux procedures and management of Pancreatico biliary diseases with a focus on Endoscopic ultrasound and ERCP. He is a member of multiple committees of the American College of Gastroenterology and American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. He has over 100 peer reviewed publications and enjoys teaching.

Dr. Gireesh
Neurologist/Epileptologist,Orlando, Florida

Dr. Gireesh is currently working as neurologist/ epileptologist at AdventHealth,Orlando.
He is board certified in Neurology, Neurophysiology, Epilepsy and Neurocritical care.

He did MBBS from Calicut medical college in India, MMST from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, research fellowship at NIH, Bethesda, Residency at New York University and fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. He previously worked as Asst. Professor in University of Florida, before joining current position at AdventHealth Orlando. He is involved in research focusing on use of artificial intelligence technologies in neurological conditions.

His lives with his wife Dr. Vandana Sekhar, a molecular biologist by profession, son, Govind Raj and daughter Veda Raj in Oviedo, FL.