People
Chizoba Umesi, MD
Duke University School of Medicine
Prateek Upadhyay, MD, MBBS
Medical School: Government Medical College Chandigarh
Miguel Valdez Zerpa, MD
Medical School: Universidad de Oriente Escuela de Medicina Nucleo de Bolivar
Miguel Valdez Zerpa, MD
Resident Physician
Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: December 2025
Miguel is a second-year anesthesiology resident at WashU Medicine. He was born and raised in Maturín, Venezuela, where his early exposure to medicine through his father’s work as a physician inspired his path to healthcare. He completed his medical degree at the Universidad de Oriente before moving to the United States, where he became involved in clinical research and contributed to the launch of the THRIVE trial in the Department of Anesthesiology. Miguel enjoys the balance of strong clinical training and research opportunities at WashU Medicine.
Outside of medicine, he loves running through Forest Park, and spending time with his wife and family. He plans to pursue a fellowship and continue his career in academic medicine following graduation from the residency program in 2028.
Thomas Van Horn, MD
Medical School: WashU Medicine
Swarup Varaday, MD
Associate Professor, Obstetrics and General Anesthesiology
Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: October 2020
Swarup is an Associate Professor in the departments of Obstetrics and General Anesthesiology. He grew up and attended medical school in the beautiful coastal city of Visakhapatnam, India. He did his anesthesia residency in India before moving to England to complete his specialist training in anesthesiology at Imperial College London, earning both FRCA from U.K. and FCARSI from Ireland.
He worked as a consultant anesthetist in London for short period before moving to St. Louis in 2007. Swarup considers joining the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine as one of the best decisions of his life because of its diverse, wonderful, and supportive people. Swarup is passionate about teaching is very active in medical student and resident education. He has been a dedicated faculty mentor and advisor for several residents. He is actively involved in the new Gateway curriculum for the School of Medicine's medical students and is co-director for the medical student clinical immersions program. His clinical work is shared between the obstetric and general anesthesiology divisions and he serves as co-leader for POD1 at Parkview Tower.
Outside of work, he loves spending time with his family, especially with his sons Tamish, who is 11 years old, and Grihith, who is a freshman at Washu. When time allows he enjoys, gardening, cooking, DIY-home improvement projects, and traveling.
Anandhalakshmi Varadharajan, MD, MBBS
Physician
Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: July 2020
Dr. Ana was born and raised in a coastal town Pondicherry, in India. She graduated from medical school in India and moved to St. Louis in 2002. She completed her IM residency at St. Luke’s hospital in Chesterfield, and her Critical Care fellowship at St. Louis University School of Medicine, in the Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program at Mercy Hospital. In 2018, Dr. Ana joined Washington University's Department of Critical Care Medicine as an intensivist. She currently resides in Chesterfield with her husband, Rajan, and children, Sri and Akilesh. She enjoys traveling with her family and watching home decoration shows. Interior decoration is her second passion after medicine.