Dr. Richa Pandey-Kochar-Kochar sees approximately 30 patients a day as a nephrologist at Springfield Clinic, yet she still finds time to give back to the community she now calls home. Pandey-Kochar grew up in Mumbai, India, and describes Springfield as a “welcoming” community that gives her every opportunity to express her “whole self.”
Pandey-Kochar says her upbringing was “atypical of an Indian family. Both of my parents worked; my mother, who was a teacher, left by 6 a.m. each day. My father packed our lunches and took us to school. I saw that my mother was allowed to thrive as she wanted. Her father had seen her potential and encouraged her to get an education, which she did. She earned a doctorate degree. I feel blessed to have been given the same chances.”
Pandey-Kochar was raised as a Hindu, which promotes service, and her parents believed in helping others. Her father told her it was one’s “duty to give people a portion of what you make in money, skills, ability and time.”
She takes her duty seriously by filling food pantries, organizing others to raise money for charitable causes, collecting coats, toys, books and care baskets for Contact Ministries and Sojourn Shelter, teaching Indian folk dance (Bhangra) to students in Compass for Kids, choreographing the Levitt AMP Springfield Music Series, serving in leadership roles for several organizations, leading a fitness group and taking her two daughters, ages 7 and 10, on trips to visit national parks. And that’s the short list.
Pandey-Kochar honors her Indian roots and is active in the Asian Indian Women’s Organization. During her term as president in 2025, India Night raised more than $283,000 for Compass for Kids. The organization’s Pantry of Hope also raised $8,000 for micropantries. Pandey-Kochar personally delivered over 200 pounds of food to the Central Illinois Food Bank.
Being a doctor was not what Pandey-Kochar always dreamed of doing. While taking five years of classical dance training, she dreamed of becoming an actor and dancer.
“My mother told me that I should have a career and steered me away from going to acting school,” she said. “She saved me. I probably would have just been a side actor.”
Instead, Pandey-Kochar earned her bachelor’s degree in Mumbai and transferred to University of Arkansas for her residency. She met her husband, Rajan Kuchar, now a gastroenterologist, who is from New Delhi. It was in Little Rock that she chose nephrology as her specialty. She then went to Washington University in St. Louis while her husband finished his training at Stanford University. When he was offered a position at Springfield Clinic, he traveled daily between Springfield and St. Louis so she could finish her training.
Pandey-Kochar has been a physician at Springfield Clinic for 11 years. She recognizes that her patients often have to wait.
“I know I am famous for being late, but I want to take time with my patients and learn about them. I ask myself, what would I do for my father?”
Pandey-Kochar sees many needs of people. Benefits such as SNAP being cut means more people need food; thus, she helps fill the pantries.
She is concerned about the increasing mistrust and anti-vaccine view and has seen more people refuse vaccines. She says, “In my field, patients are on dialysis; they sit for several hours three times a week in close proximity so they need to be protected by the vaccines. Misinformation does harm.”
Pandey-Kochar and her husband have two daughters, and their parents have often visited for several months at a time to help.
“I have had a huge support system around me,” she said.
The couple are both lifestyle and health coaches. Pandey-Kochar leads an all-women’s group focusing on weightlifting and fitness and acknowledges one of her strengths is bringing people together.
She says, “If I believe in a cause, I put my energy into it and organize people. Sometimes,” she admits, “I come up with things on a whim.”
A few days before Easter one year, she found out Contact Ministries had 23 kids who would have nothing for Easter. She called and organized people to make baskets; she made 10 herself. Her daughters help with many activities as she believes they, too, need to embrace the spirit of service.
Nominator Vinod Gupta writes, “As a nephrologist, Richa protects the physical health of our citizens. As a fitness mentor for women, she advocates for proactive wellness. As a philanthropist, she addresses food insecurity and childhood poverty. She has been instrumental in integrating the Asian Indian community into the broader civic fabric of Springfield.”
Pandey-Kochar is honored to be a Women of Influence recipient, but says, “This isn’t my award. My bio is due to a team effort and the support and love I have around me.”
This article appears in Women of Influence 2026.