Hey there friends! This is Michael Le. Thanks for tuning into another episode of Pass the Mike where I have the pleasure of sharing the narratives of imminent or current medical professionals. In short, my job is to build you a community of mentors from the folks that have come before you. This episode is a wonderful reunion because we have my second-year, Rieber Vista, Rendezvous partner-in-crime roommate Dhiraj Nallapothula. That's D-H-I-R-A-J N-A-L-L-A-P-O-T-H-U-L-A. Dhiraj graduated in 2019 from UCLA with a degree in Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics. I am ecstatic that I can say that Dhiraj has earned a well-deserved seat in UC Davis' NIH-funded MD/PhD program. Dhiraj is going to be a Dr. Dr. Congratulations again man.

We'll get into all the academic things that make Dhiraj awesome, but I wanted to spend a moment to note the things that you won't know unless you had the opportunity to live with the guy for a year. Dhiraj is the guy who claims free chipotle guac and chips on LikeACoupon.com (they honestly have pretty good deals). He's also the guy that, and I quote: "enjoys the misanthropy of Gregory House, the brilliance of the New York Times, the addiction of sports, and the idealism of cinema." This man predates the statistics era in sports and can probably tell you Barry Bonds' Batting Average or Wilt Chamberlain's FT %.

You can find Dhiraj if you want to say hello, ask a question or ask him how he feels about Stephen A. Smith on Twitter @dhirajn30, that's D-H-I-R-A-J-N-3-0. I'm personally so grateful to carve out some time to have a nice conversation with him today. Dhiraj, welcome to the show.