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Resident Physician PGY-4
Albany Medical Center PM&R Program
My name is John Pianka, MD, I am a fourth-year PM&R resident at Albany Medical College. My passion for medicine developed later in college and I ended up graduating from Wesleyan University in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. I ended up staying an extra year to get my Master's in Psychology while also taking the required pre-medicine courses. After I got my Master's, I worked on an inpatient Psychiatry unit at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow. This experience gave me a deeper insight into how much one's mental health factors into their recovery from any illness, not just Psychiatric, and I believe this persepective is imperative in the field of PM&R. I started at Albany Medical College for med school in 2015. I was quickly attracted to the field of PM&R due to its hands-on nature, the relationship one builds with their patients, many over the course of years, and the many technological breakthroughs we can expect in the coming years that will further enhance the quality of life of our patients. Throughout medical school I fell in love with the Albany area (as an avid skier and hiker, the surrounding outdoors was an ideal place for me) as well as AMC's PM&R program. I was thankfully accepted as a resident in the class of 2023. My interests in the field include musculoskeletal ultrasound, spasticity management, and pain management. My other interests include the previously mentioned skiing and hiking, as well as movies and, more recently cooking (one small positive result of the pandemic).