Annual Publication 2025 FINAL 05292025 accessible - Flipbook - Page 62
CHARTER CLASS GRAD
NOW CHIEF RESIDENT
FOR INTERNAL MEDICINE
BY PAUL JONCICH
T
he decision to stay in Las Vegas for medical
school and residency is paying off in spades for
charter class graduate Ashley Prandecki, MD.
Now serving as the president of the Kirk
Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV’s alumni
chapter and chief resident in the department
of internal medicine, Dr. Prandecki is also a new mom. And as
anyone who’s raised children knows, having family around to help
with a baby boy is priceless, particularly when you’re a young
physician who’s been working 60-hour weeks and your husband
is up to his eyeballs growing a small business. Are we having fun
yet?
Well, “Yes.” She is having fun. Albeit a different type of fun than
she had as a teenager tearing up the tennis courts around Las
Vegas, working her way up the rankings as one of the top junior
players in the region. Her tennis talents would eventually earn
her an athletic scholarship to Western New Mexico University,
where she starred on the court while working towards a degree
in business management. After graduating, she returned to take
science courses before setting her sights on medical school.
Upon receiving her MD degree from the Kirk Kerkorian School
of Medicine at UNLV in 2021, Dr. Prandecki completed a threeyear residency in the school’s internal medicine department and
agreed to stay on for an additional year as chief resident. While
the residency was admittedly a grind, her new, elevated role
gives her a little more breathing room. “I just 昀椀nished a two-week
stretch in the internal medicine inpatient ward. And this week, my
schedule is a little lighter, so I have a lot more down time to be
with family than I did during residency.”
Her initial plan was to pursue a fellowship in a subspecialty, but
the delightfully positive Dr. Prandecki says she has fallen in love
with the primary care aspect of internal medicine. “You’re the 昀椀rst
person to see a patient typically, so your role as a diagnostician
is very important, because you are guiding their care and getting
them to the specialist they need.”
To Dr. Prandecki, one of the good things about practicing
medicine in Las Vegas is that you see just about everything. “You
have the opportunity to care for people from all over the world,”
62 KIRK KERKORIAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT UNLV
Dr. Prandecki says. “They travel to Las Vegas and a lot of times
they end up at University Medical Center [UMC], which is where I
primarily train. And I think that is super valuable because you end
up seeing some very rare things that you may not see somewhere
else.”
As one of 18 students in the charter class to match in Las Vegas,
Dr. Prandecki watched some of her classmates leave town for
residency. But she never wavered in her belief that Las Vegas was
the best place for her. In fact, she happily stepped up to develop
the school’s 昀椀rst alumni chapter.
“You know, I want to stay in Las Vegas. I love it here, and training
here also allows me to see the unique needs of our local
population. It really just feels like the city and the program are
right for me.”
That is sweet music to ears of those working to bring more
physicians to Southern Nevada. Dr. Prandecki has even considered
joining the faculty when she 昀椀nishes as chief resident. “I’ve really
fallen in love with academic medicine too, because it keeps you
on your toes with all the latest research and guideline changes
and all of that. It’s really fun to be a part of.”
She is also proud of her classmates, the original members of the
Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine Charter Class. They were 60
fresh-faced students taking a chance on a brand new medical
school – 昀椀rst stepping foot on campus in 2017. They are now
physicians caring for patients, staying true to the oath they took
during their White Coat Ceremony.
Like others in her cohort, Dr. Prandecki received a generous
scholarship that pretty much paid for her medical school years.
Her scholarship was from the Engelstad Foundation. She says
she will never forget the gesture and hopes to pay it back by
caring for the community that helped raise her.
“It feels like we’re going in the right direction,” she says. “UNLV is
helping address one of the bigger issues, which is the physicians
shortage. And a lot of my classmates are choosing to return
and others are staying for residency. The additional residency
programs and fellowships will really help decrease physician
burnout … and eventually improve patient access to primary care.”
