On Dr. Anil Shah’s bookshelf, you will see a black leather medical house call bag with the intials RH Shah. These intials are those of his now deceased father, Dr. Rajendra H. Shah, who was a physician. Dr. Anil Shah was influenced by his father not just in his pursuit of medicine, but in the way he practiced medicine.
Both Dr. Shah’s did their fellowships at Ivy League destinations on the East Coast, with Dr. Anil Shah finishing a fellowship in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Cornell and his father at Yale University in Gasteronterology. Dr. Rajendra Shah practiced in a relatively small town and took time to know his patients and which was somewhat uncommon make the occasional house call with his doctor satchel. Dr. Anil Shah takes pride in knowing the lives of his patients, not just as a physician, and for some post operative patients he does make the occasional house call. Dr. Rajendra Shah often came home with a pie or jelly or some other sign of gratitude from a patient telling him thank you. Dr. Anil Shah similarily will often receive baked goods and terms of endearment from his patients.
Dr. Rajendra Shah’s life was rich not in just his family but his love for his patients, many of which he knew for many years. His medical satchel may look a relic from medicine from years past, but it is a reminder that medicine is that combination of art, science, and is an intimately personal relationship between physicians and their patients.