Fellows

College: Brown University
Graduate School: Harvard School of Public Health
Medical School: Boston University 
Hometown: Augusta, GA
She/Her

Viji was born and raised in Augusta, Ga., the home of the Masters Golf Tournament. Although she moved from the south when she was 18 years old, she cannot let go of her love for drinking her sweet tea and saying “y’all” whenever possible. She attended Brown University and concentrated in psychology. Following graduation, she worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) involved in prevention and HIV clinical research. She then realized it was too hard to be away from New England, and attended medical school at Boston University. During medical school, she obtained her Master of Public Health degree at Harvard School of Public Health. After completing two years of general surgery clinical training and 2 years of NIH-funded surgical outcomes research as part of the general surgery residency program at UMass, she decided to switch to dermatology. She was excited about the diversity of dermatologic diseases and surgical procedures one encounters daily and the ability to be involved in both prevention and treatment of skin cancers. She is so excited to be part of the UMass Dermatology family!  Her academic goals include becoming a dermatologic surgeon with a research focus on surgical and epidemiological outcomes. Outside of work, you can find her dancing her heart out either at Zumba or with her husband and 3 year old daughter (and rest of family), travelling (visited 6 of 7 continents…can’t wait to cross Antarctica off the list!), trying new restaurants/rooftop bars/vineyards both locally and abroad, and convincing herself  that she is  actually an event/party planner.

College: University of Cambridge, United Kingdom 
Medical School: Imperial College School of Medicine 
Hometown: London, England
She/Her/Hers

Bella grew up in a town in the English 'midlands', best known for inventing the sport rugby. She studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge, before completing medical school at Imperial College in London. She stayed in leafy West London for her UK intern year. During this time, she developed her career interests in pediatric dermatology, after seeing how much skin conditions can affect the quality of life of children and their families, and how genetic skin conditions might unlock wider mechanisms of oncology. She moved to Boston with her husband for a pediatric preliminary year at Massachusetts General Hospital before starting dermatology residency at UMass Chan Medical School this year. Outside of medicine, Bella enjoys tandem bike rides with her husband, walks with their puppy (Heidi) and carbohydrates.