After his father's health scare, Dr. Malay Shah dedicated himself to medicine
Meet Dr. Malay Shah, surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program at UK HealthCare. Originally from the Cincinnati area, Dr. Shah underwent his medical training in Ohio and nearby states, but he jumped at the opportunity to return to the area he calls home to help the people of Kentucky. In this week's edition of Making the Rounds, Dr. Shah took us back to his beginnings and tells us about his work caring for kidney and liver transplant candidates.
At what point in your life did you think that you were going to become a doctor?
I was always interested in medicine. My mom was a doctor. My dad was an engineer. I was always interested from the get-go, as far back as I can remember. My interest piqued more when in high school, I think tenth or eleventh grade, my dad had a heart attack. He's fine now, but I got more interested in medicine at that point, like how do I help other people who have problems.
Describe your patient care philosophy.
My overriding philosophy is if it's a therapy or a treatment that's good enough for my family member, then it's good enough for my patient. And if I wouldn't want it done on my own family member, I wouldn't want it done on my patient.
What makes you proud to work at UK HealthCare?
Most of the people that come to see us and see me would say that we've heard of you before and we've heard great things. But really the thing I'm most proud about the way I handle my day-to-day practice and patient care is the fact that I spend a lot of time talking to patients.
Every day stuns me. I have a great respect for the type of people we take care of here. Many of them don't have very much in terms of resources and the ability to access good healthcare benefits, but at the same time, they are good people who are trying hard in life. These are the people I like to try to help, and that's what's really neat about the job every day.
Watch our interview to learn more about what you can expect when you meet Dr. Malay Shah.
