Leena V. Khanzode, MD - Psychiatrist - Kaiser Permanente
Dr. Khanzode is a board certified psychiatrist dedicated to providing quality, evidence based treatment to help individuals and families overcome difficulties and lead happier, more productive lives. Dr. Khanzode is multi-lingual and as an immigrant herself, she strives to serve immigrant and bicultural families through her work.
She was born and raised in India and the importance of helping others was instilled in Dr. Khanzode from a young age. Her parents, who are both in the medical field, volunteered at shelters and the center for the developmentally delayed children. This had a lasting impression on Dr. Khanzode and she has always desired to be able to give back to the community.
While she was in medical school, she volunteered at the slums nearby. Poverty, improper sanitation, lack of supply of clean water, and inadequate infrastructure were some of the reasons for high rates of diseases such as cholera, Tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid, polio, and child malnutrition. It was very clear that community outreach would help improve the situation in these areas.
After getting married, she moved to the US and was fortunate to get into a residency program at Stanford. During her residency, she had the opportunity to work under Drs. Paul Auerbach and Eric Weiss. They imbibed in her the love for wilderness medicine and she took several Wilderness Medicine CMEs to Mt. Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and Montana. She has traveled to several remote areas of the world including the Amazon, Borneo, Africa, Nepal, and Galapagos to explore nature and at times she was the only doctor in the group. The challenges to practice medicine in the wilderness, rekindled her passion to practice medicine in rural and underserved areas.
For the next few years her time was divided into working as a fulltime adult psychiatrist at Kaiser Santa Clara, and raising two lovely daughters. She began volunteering at AACI in 2016 as an adult psychiatrist and provides help to the low income and diverse immigrant population that AACI serves which includes many refugees and survivors of torture. Dr. Khanzode commented, “I was moved by the 'Survivors of Torture' and these survivors are unique in their resolve and resilience. As a physician I have learned to not only honor and respect their experience but they have taught me to be empathetic and kind. It continues to be a very fulfilling experience for me and I am very grateful for this opportunity.”
Long term, Dr. Khanzode would like to continue to engage in meaningful service to the community and learn from her patients and colleagues here and abroad.
Dr. Leena V Khanzode will be honored at the NBC Bay Area & AACI Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Awards Ceremony.
