The Healthy Heart Doctor
His parents traveled 10,000 miles from India to the United States in search of opportunity. Years later, Kanwar Singh followed in their footsteps in search of the best medical training and to become an interventional cardiologist and director of vascular medicine and intervention at UConn Health Center in Farmington. For Singh, it’s not the miles themselves that matter; it’s where he has been.
Singh, 34, grew up in Rochester, N.Y. and graduated from Cornell University in 1994 with a degree in biology. He became inspired to join the medical field after witnessing a family friend and chief of surgery at work.
Singh was advised to attend McGill University in Montreal for neurobiology training and although he found the subject fascinating, he didn’t see enough options to provide therapeutic solutions for patients. In 1999, Singh left McGill and came back to the United States to perform his residency in cardiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“That field offers the beauty of the physical exam with patients and gives doctors clear options to help patients do better,” he said.
After three years, Singh went to Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina for a fellowship in general and interventional cardiology.
“The steps of where I have been have allowed me to learn more than one way of handling things in the field,” Singh said. “I was also able to be part of the faculty and felt that I was able to give back to other students.”
Singh and his wife decided to move to the Northeast to be closer to other family.
“The hardest thing is to have patients realize the impact that heart disease really has on them,” Singh said. “For whatever reason, they see it just as part of wear and tear so it’s hard to motivate them to change their behaviors and lifestyle.”
The self-proclaimed tennis nut can attest to the need for his patients to get healthier and more active habits.
“My colleagues are absolutely wonderful people and are committed to patient care, teaching and performing academic research, he said. “I have been welcomed with open arms as a respected colleague.”
And Dr. Singh is again taking on the role of assistant professor of medicine which gives him interaction with medical residents and cardiology fellows.
“It’s fun to watch someone grow before your eyes and become competent and confident with patients.”
Emily Boisvert is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
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