Dr. Nallapareddy

by Sandy Barrett, director of Physician Relations

Dr. Sujatha Nallapareddy, Hematologist/Oncologist, and new associate with Dr. Sami Diab, Colorado Integrative Cancer Care, is a city girl!  She was born, raised and went to college and medical school all in the same, large city in India.  She lived at home with her parents and younger sister until she married in 1999.  Dr. Nallapareddy then moved to the US in 2000, between medical school and residency, as her husband, Malli, an engineer, accepted a computer consulting position in New Jersey. 

Once in the United States, Dr. Nallapareddy lived in many different cities due to her husband’s position.  She went from New Jersey to Phoenix, Minnesota, Denver and Boston before deciding to settle in and do her Internal Medicine residency at SUNY Buffalo. Dr. Nallapareddy says she always had a passion for medicine, even as a kid.   She really liked Internal Medicine, but it was her first rotation, oncology, where she found her calling.

“Oncology was a field that everyone feared,” says Dr. Nallapareddy.  “I always felt that you could do something for the patient…it is challenging, changing every day.  You develop a long-term relationship, you bond with patients in oncology,” she says. 

After finishing her Internal Medicine residency, Dr. Nallapareddy and Malli moved to Denver where she began her Hematology Oncology fellowship at UCHSC.   

“I cried the first month when I started my fellowship,” she says, as losing her patients was very difficult to handle.   

However, Dr. Nallapareddy learned to deal with this as she saw the value she could bring to the lives she touched.  She stresses that communication, talking to the patient about how they feel, is the most important thing she can do. 

“It makes my day when I feel like I have communicated and helped my patient,” Dr. Nallapareddy says smiling.

After she completed her Hematology Oncology fellowship, she decided to do an additional year focusing on Developmental Therapeutics and GI Oncology.  While she does general oncology in her practice, she specializes in GI oncology and in the use of investigational drugs in a clinical setting.

Dr. Nallapareddy is happy to be practicing in Denver.   She’s not into skiing, but she is trying to learn!  She took lessons for the first time this winter with her older daughter. 

“It was fun, my daughter [learned how to ski], but for me…I need more classes,” she laughs.

They are a family that likes the outdoors as well as taking car trips to explore the western states.  They are looking forward to an upcoming journey to southern Colorado this summer.  She and Malli, with their two daughters, ages 9 and 4, enjoy the weather and lifestyle that metro Denver has to offer.  Although Denver may not be quite the big city she grew up in, it and her new practice, seem to be the perfect fit!