Dr. Kalia was born and raised in California. His father, Ram L. Kalia, a physician in India, immigrated to the United States in 1957. Unable to practice medicine because of restrictions on foreign medical graduates, he "started over", worked as a farm laborer in the Central Valley, studied at U of Nevada Reno while working as a busboy, and became a civil engineer. However, his passion for medicine was instilled in his children; both Dr. Kalia and his sister became physicians. With similar drive, his mother, Sharda Rani Kalia "started over" and became a civil engineer. Both his parents achieved the status of PE (Profession Engineer) with careers in the US Army Corps of Engineers and State of California, CALTRANS and Safety of Dams.
After high school, Dr. Kalia entered the six year honors program in medical education at Boston University and graduated first, summa cum laude, in both the undergraduate and medical school class. Along the way, he achieved academic awards in most every subject recognized for an award at Boston University School of Medicine (click on curriculum vitae above for details)
The overall allure of neurosurgery led Dr. Kalia into residency at the University of Pittsburgh under Dr. Peter J. Jannetta; considered to be one of the pioneers of modern neurosurgery. Dr. Kalia was trained by Dr. Jannetta and his faculty including Drs. L. Dade Lunsford, Hae Dong Jho, Peter Sheptak, Paul Nelson, Laligam Sekhar, A. Leland Albright, Dachling Pang, Donald Wright, Chandra Sen, Howard Yonas, John Moossy, Anthony Kaufmann, and many chief residents and residents who have gone on to achieve great accomplishments in the field.
In 1997, Dr. Kalia joined Dr. Munir Abbasy in Springfield, MA who also trained under Dr. Jannetta. One year later, his co-chief resident from Pittsburgh, Dr. Christopher Comey, joined the practice. In 2002, Drs. Kalia and Comey formed NENA, New England Neurosurgical Associates.
Dr. Kalia served as acting chief of Neurosurgery at Baystate Medical Center after Dr. Abbasy's death.
He has practiced neurosurgery in Western Massachusetts continually from June 1997 to the present.
photo by Mercy Medical Center
Springfield, MA taken in 2008
