Dr. Akhilesh “Akhil” Gonuguntla joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026.
Although raised in Dallas, he moved to India at the end of his freshman year of high school. Dr. Gonuguntla received his medical degree from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India in 2022. Following medical school, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Division of Cardiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, an experience that further solidified his interest in academic medicine.
Dr. Gonuguntla completed his internal medicine residency training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in June 2026. During residency, he participated in multiple scholarly tracks including point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS), women’s health, medical education, and health disparities. He led initiatives to augment resident and medical student education as co-chair of the Women’s Health Track, a POCUS Scholar, and a Clinic Exemplar. He also completed a dedicated medical education elective during residency, further reflecting his strong commitment to teaching and mentorship.
His academic interests include cardiometabolic risk reduction, POCUS, evidence-based physical exam, digital health innovation, and data-driven approaches to improving population health outcomes. Recognizing that the primary barrier to impactful evidence-based care is often effective implementation rather than innovation, he is passionate about efforts that work to bridge the evidence–practice gap and enable high-value care.
Outside of medicine, Dr. Gonuguntla enjoys working out, playing table tennis, board games, listening to podcasts, and cheering for Dallas sports teams. He and his fiancée, Dr. Anila Vasireddy, are excited to reunite in St. Louis after three years apart during residency as she begins her Gastroenterology fellowship training at WashU. Together, they look forward to building community and contributing to the care of patients in their new home.