In General Internal Medicine and Primary Care I have found my passion and my calling. I have been practicing GIM and Primary Care in the Kingwood and Humble communities for 22 years. I got my first taste of true Primary care and General Internal Medicine in rural Iran where my wife and I were the only practitioners for miles. For newly minted graduates like us from Hyderabad, India , dealing with all medical problems from minor infections to acute appendicitis, acute MI with acute LV failure to normal deliveries, breech presentations and everything in between, was challenging and at the same time awe-inspiring and at times overwhelming.

Following the two-year sojourn in rural Iran, I moved to The United Kingdom where I completed training in General surgery and passed the Fellowship exams to be inducted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1990. I gained extensive experience in the management of a wide variety of general surgical problems with particular focus in Colo-rectal surgery at the Registrar level. I then moved to the USA. I completed my residency in Internal medicine in upstate New York following which I was accepted into GI fellowship at Tulane University, New Orleans. I completed 1 year and decided to settle down in General Internal Medicine and Primary Care.

The opportunity of being the first port of call for all medical issues of the community helps me approach each day and each patient with new enthusiasm. The challenge of making a diagnosis by attentive listening, careful examination and thoughtful investigation makes each patient encounter exciting. The efficient delivery of evidence-based solutions to these patients is gratifying. My philosophy is that the solid foundation of good primary care can address up to date health maintenance, preventative care, chronic disease management and population health management at the highest level. This in turn reduces healthcare costs.

The key components of good healthcare for any community are an approachable and available Comprehensive Primary Care center with availability of a well-trained Primary Care physician, basic diagnostic and treatment tools, a responsive and well trained network of specialists as well as access to inpatient treatment when necessary and most importantly prompt, timely and detailed communication between all these components. In my long years of practice, I have seen time and again a breakdown in the delivery of appropriate and timely care due to poor communication between these various members of the team which sadly can lead to medical errors.

In order to realize this dream of an efficient system, the training has to begin at the level of the medical school. A medical student who is trained to address these deficiencies and is armed with the necessary tools today, will undoubtedly help build the ideal healthcare delivery system for our communities. I served as a voluntary clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at The Baylor College of Medicine. I have mentored and precepted the PPS course for the 1st year medical students since 2003. I would certainly like to devote my time and offer my talents to help in any capacity to help train our medical students and prepare them for a tomorrow that can offer better, efficient and affordable healthcare to all members of the community.

I envision the three pillars of a stellar healthcare delivery system to be:

• Physicians trained to provide comprehensive Primary care
• easily accessible and approachable comprehensive Primary care centers with basic diagnostic and treatment or stabilization tools
• seamless communication between all healthcare providers.

In today’s world, using the ever-evolving medical and communication technology judiciously the above goals can be achieved. I will strive towards developing systems and process as well as use technology to help build a network of Primary care delivery system that can get us closer to the goal of a healthy and productive community.