Express Urgent Care is directed by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP. Walk-in medicine has one hard problem: nobody has sorted the patients yet. Whoever runs the clinic has to tell, quickly, which person in the waiting room is actually in trouble.
Why does an anesthesiologist run a walk-in clinic?
Anesthesiology is the specialty built around exactly that judgment. An anesthesiologist sizes up a patient they have often never met. In minutes, they decide whether the airway and the circulation (blood flow) will hold. They are trained to act before the diagnosis is complete, not after it. A walk-in clinic does the same task at the front door. The patients are less sick, but there are many more of them.
That is also why the boundary is taken seriously here. Some patients should not be treated in an urgent care. Spotting them and moving them is the single most important thing this kind of clinic does.
When should you go to urgent care, and when not?
Most people who go to an emergency department do not need one. The cost of being in the wrong line is measured in hours. In Missouri, the statewide median emergency department stay for patients who are treated and released is 154 minutes. Across the busiest emergency departments in the St. Louis area, the average runs to roughly 229 minutes. About 3% of Missouri emergency patients leave before they are seen at all, against 2% nationally. Those are CMS figures for the 2024–25 reporting period.
Urgent care exists for the large middle. That means the injuries, infections, rashes, sprains and illnesses that truly need a clinician today but do not need a trauma bay. The line between the two is worth understanding before you need it.
There are two things this clinic is deliberately not. It is not an emergency department. Chest pain, stroke symptoms, severe bleeding and difficulty breathing belong in one, and calling 911 is the correct decision. And it is not a source for continuing controlled substance prescriptions. Chronic pain is treated properly at the affiliated pain practice, over time, by the same physician.
The visit that catches something else
For a great many working adults, an urgent care visit is the only time they see a physician in a given year. That makes the walk-in visit a rare chance, and it is treated as one here.
Dr. Padda is board certified in obesity medicine and a Diplomate of the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners. The clinic offers heart, stroke and diabetes screening alongside the reason you came in. Metabolic disease is silent for years and then shows up as an event. A sprained ankle is a poor reason to find out someone’s blood sugar has been climbing for a decade. But it is a much better one than a stroke.
Is Dr. Padda board certified?
Dr. Padda holds five American board certifications:
- Anesthesiology — American Board of Anesthesiology
- Pain Medicine — American Board of Pain Medicine
- Interventional Pain — American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP)
- Addiction Medicine — American Board of Addiction Medicine
- Obesity Medicine — American Board of Obesity Medicine
He is a Fellow of Interventional Pain Physicians (FIPP) and a Certified Physician Executive. He is a Diplomate of the Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners. He is also a certified rater for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
Where did Dr. Padda train?
Dr. Padda took his MD at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. He trained in general surgery at Cook County Hospital. He completed anesthesiology residencies at Illinois Masonic Medical Center and at Washington University / Barnes Hospital, where he was Chief Resident in 1991–92. He holds an MBA from Saint Louis University.
Through the 1990s he was Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and of Pediatrics at Saint Louis University and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. He ran its pediatric acute pain service. He was also Medical Director of its preadmission program. That hospital throughput work (moving patients through a hospital) is the direct ancestor of running an efficient walk-in clinic. Since 2024 he has been faculty in the Kansas City University and Freeman Health System psychiatry residency. The full record is on his Padda Institute physician page.
How can you verify Dr. Padda’s credentials?
None of this has to be taken on trust. Dr. Padda is licensed in Missouri and Illinois, and the record is public.
- National Provider Identifier: 1427035955
- Missouri medical license: MD 100572
- Healthgrades profile
- Doximity profile
Published research. His peer-reviewed record is registered under ORCID 0009-0001-0166-3186 and indexed at PubMed, OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar. His biographical record is Wikidata Q141049117.
Find Dr. Padda Online
His clinical practice
Dr. Padda directs the Padda Institute in St. Louis. He holds full staff privileges at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, Illinois. He is Chief Medical Officer of Valor Villages, the St. Louis 501(c)(3) nonprofit that houses veterans and children in crisis. Other practices under the same physician are listed on the affiliated practices page.
Walk in
No appointment is required. Locations and hours are here, and you can contact the clinic if you are unsure whether we are the right place.
Frequently asked questions
Will urgent care refill my pain medication?
No. Express Urgent Care is deliberately not a source for continuing controlled substance prescriptions. Chronic pain is treated properly at the affiliated pain practice, the Padda Institute. It is treated over time and by the same physician, Dr. Padda. Urgent care is for the injuries, infections, rashes, sprains and illnesses that truly need a clinician today.
Can I get heart, stroke and diabetes screening during an urgent care visit?
Yes. For many working adults, an urgent care visit is the only time they see a physician in a given year. So the clinic offers heart, stroke and diabetes screening alongside the reason you came in. Metabolic disease is silent for years and then shows up as an event. A sprained ankle is a far better way to find it than a stroke.
Do I need an appointment at Express Urgent Care?
No. Express Urgent Care is a walk-in clinic, and no appointment is required. It is open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 4479 Woodson Rd, Suite 290, St. Louis. If you are unsure whether urgent care is the right place, contact the clinic. Chest pain, stroke symptoms, severe bleeding and difficulty breathing belong in an emergency department: call 911.
Board certifications and professional affiliations
Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP holds five board certifications and maintains the professional affiliations below.
