Read more about Evansville’s international community in the January/February 2025 feature story.
Over the past 35 years with Deaconess Health System, often the last image a surgery patient sees before they fall asleep is the deep brown eyes of anesthesiologist Pallavi Bhatt. Peering out from above her surgical mask, they wordlessly reassure patients that they are in good hands — much like the encouragement she received years ago as a new Evansville resident.
Bhatt, the daughter of an anesthesiologist, originally is from the coastal state of Gujarat, India. In 1969, she and her pediatrician husband, Kishor Bhatt, arrived in New York City to further their schooling and training. Six years later, the couple — eyes on the Northeast — placed an ad seeking employment in the Journal of the AMA. The new Warrick Hospital in Boonville, Indiana, sent them plane tickets for interviews.
Within the year, the Bhatts chose to move to the Midwest. Their patients, peers, coworkers, and neighbors consistently showed them warm appreciation. Eventually, they raised two sons in Evansville.
“We were only one of four, maybe five, Indian families in the whole Tri-State,” Bhatt recalls.
That group of Indian professionals began meeting monthly in their homes to play cards and celebrate holidays. By 1984, the initial friend group founded the Cultural Society of India. Since then, the nonprofit — a non-religious organization that welcomes and integrates different religious communities — serves around 1,000 families and contributes to the Tri-State with traditional Indian festivals, scholarships, event sponsorships, cricket tournament, kite fest, and donor drives.
After her husband’s death in 2014, Bhatt tried to retire but needed the fulfillment she receives practicing medicine.
“Now, I have more free time to discuss medical issues with patients in detail,” she says.
Away from work, she spends time visiting family.
