Program Faculty
Rajeev Raghavan, MD MEd
Program Director
Dr. Rajeev Raghavan is a practicing Nephrologist and the Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at HCA Kingwood. His academic title is Professor of Medicine at the Fertitta Family University of Houston College of Medicine. Dr. Raghavan graduated from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio with a degree in Chemical Engineering, then completed medical school at The Ohio State University. He followed his wife to Texas where he completed residency (2008) and fellowship (2010) at the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). He was an Assistant then Associate Professor of Medicine at BCM from 2010-2021.
He is passionate about medical education and holds a Masters of Education (M. Ed) in Health Sciences from the University of Houston (2021). Dr. Raghavan’s creative outlet is in music and he performs with the renowned Texas Medical Center Orchestra and World Doctor’s Orchestra. He lives with his wife and three daughters. Together, they enjoy traveling and socializing.
Rachel Hogan, DO
Associate Program Director
Dr. Hogan serves as an academic hospitalist and has a passion for teaching. She spends a lot of time with clinical teaching, evaluation and mentoring residents. Originally from Arizona, she loves spending time with her son and family.
Turuvekere Jayaram, MD
Associate Program Director
Dr. Jayaram completed his training at the University of Illinois and practiced in Los Angeles in the UCLA system before coming to Kingwood several years ago. He is Board Certified in Pulmonary/Critical Care, Sleep medicine and Geriatrics. He is a dedicated mentor and teacher with a particular interest in Quality and Patient Safety.
Marelle Montanez, DO
Associate Program Director
Dr. Montanez is a Hospitalist with Team Health and Board Certified Nephrologist. She completed her training Michigan State and UT McGovern (Houston). She enjoys games and puzzles, and is a favorite attending among our residents.
Sowmya Puthalapattu, MD
Core Faculty
Dr. Puthalapattu, MD completed residency in internal medicine, and a nephrology fellowship at St Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City. She is especially interested in CKD, hyponatremia and home dialysis. She is committed to providing residents with a great educational experience.
Syed Raza, MD
Core Faculty
Dr. Raza has been with the program since its start and in the first year of the program won Faculty of the Year award. He completed his residency at Michigan State University and Cardiology and Interventional Fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
Mir Ali Sadat, MD
Core Faculty
Dr. Sadat has extensive experience as a hospitalist and has been active with the program since its start. He is very interested in resident education.
Sivatej Sarva, MD
Core Faculty
Dr. Sarva come to Houston inn 2018 from the University of Missouri and has a PhD in Molecular Sciences. He completed residency and fellowship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He has an avid interest in research and has assisted various residents with projects.
Hong Thai, MD
Core Faculty
Dr. Thai is a Hospitalist with Team Health. She graduated from UT McGovern medical school and served as Chief Resident in our program (2021). She is a passionate and well-respected educator, and loves trying new restaurants in her spare time. In 2022, she won the Healing Hands Professionalism Award, given to two residents annually. Dr. Thai runs our program’s board review curriculum.
Zuhair Ali, MD
Research Director
Dr. Zuhair Ali is our Research Director for Graduate Medical Education. In partnership with our Program Directors, he will be responsible maintaining ACGME accreditation for programs within our division by creating and executing the scholarship agenda for residents and fellows. This entails faculty development on topics relating to the research lifecycle, mentoring faculty and learners in scholarship, and developing research opportunities with various partners such as Quality departments internally, and with University of Houston College of Medicine externally.