Amrita Pandit, MD, FACS, provides care with the Springfield Clinic Peoria's General Surgery department specializing in both General Surgery and Bariatric Surgery. She sees patients at Springfield Clinic Bloomington - Normal as well as Peoria.

Dr. Pandit earned her medical degree from Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in Wardha, India. She completed her general surgery residency at the University of Vermont School of Medicine in Burlington, and completed a fellowship in MIS, Bariatrics, Robotics and Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif.

Prior to joining Springfield Clinic, Dr. Pandit served as a general surgeon and a trauma surgeon for five years in Urbana, Ill., and Normal, Ill.

"I decided early on that I wanted to be a doctor," says Dr. Pandit. "Where I grew up, I saw a lot of poverty and disease. To me, being a doctor was a noble profession. It was always my dream to become one of these doctors to help my community."

Dr. Pandit enjoys living in central Illinois with her family and is passionate about providing this care to her community.

"Bariatric surgery is one of the proven ways to resolve the issue of obesity," Dr. Pandit explains. "It helps patients regain a healthy lifestyle through weight loss so they can live longer, happier and disease-free lives."

Establishing a level of trust with patients is key for Dr. Pandit. "When a patient comes to you for a surgery, they are showing they trust you fully, and achieving that trust is not an easy thing," she says. "I feel that is the biggest responsibility that I have and what makes surgery different from other professions."

In her free time, Dr. Pandit enjoys drawing, painting, sewing, cooking, baking, gardening and traveling.