Physicians are privileged to see patients at their most vulnerable, to reshape lives and continually revitalize the nation’s health system. In a challenging practice environment, physicians remain driven by the power of healing and the indelible connections they form with patients and families.
The AMA Wire® “When I Knew Medicine Was My Calling” series profiles a wide variety of doctors, offering a glimpse into the lives of the busy women and men navigating new courses in their careers and in American medicine. No matter their age, their specialty or their career stage, they were born to do this and they tell us why.
Share a moment with: Partho P. Sengupta, MD, professor of cardiology, director of cardiac imaging and chair of cardiac innovation, West Virginia University Heart and Vascular Institute, Morgantown, West Virginia. Innnovator behind the “heart hologram.”
I was born to: Serve and innovate.
The moment I knew medicine was my calling: When my father first had me listen to a patient with heart murmur. I went on to do a school science project on how the heart works.
An experience from residency that confirmed my calling as a physician: When I first saw the miracle of a cardiopulmonary resuscitation bring a patient back to life and then I saw him walk out of the hospital.
An experience from medical school that kept me going: When I was in my first year of medical school, my father suffered a heart attack. I stayed up the whole night looking at the EKG monitor and reading cardiology textbooks. I learned that when EKG lines normalize, it indicates the therapy was effective and the patient has recovered. I realized then that technology had a lot to offer in understanding the heart’s rhythm and function, and I’ve been a technology enthusiast ever since.
My source of inspiration: Any new insight or discovery that explains a patients’ illness and the joy of sharing the previously unknown with your peers gives strong sense of fulfillment and purpose.
My hope for the future of medicine: I am still waiting for the ”tricorder” that took care of the Starship Enterprise, and I think it’s not so far off.
The hardest moment in medicine and how I got past it: When I had my first major research findings rejected by a major journal. We persisted and then my co-authors and I did additional work and appealed, and had it published with a cover page story in the same journal. I learned that criticism is often very rewarding. It can open up new lines of thinking and additional opportunities. You need both patience and persistence.
My favorite experience working with the medical team: Lunchtime and coffee-time gossip sessions are the best relaxation events on a busy day.
The most challenging aspects of caring for patients: When they refuse a therapy when it could really help them.
The most rewarding aspect of caring for patients: The look and smile of a thankful patient
The skills every physician should have but won’t be tested for on the board exam: Interpersonal skills and the ability to work well on a team.
One question students should ask themselves before pursuing medicine: Am I curious about this work? Medicine is all about trying to search the unknown and linking the new to what is already known. If you do not have medical curiosity, you may never be able be able to know or treat your patients.
A quick insight I would give students who are considering medicine: Medicine is at an inflection point, where the exponential technologies are allowing us to rediscover diseases in completely new ways. This is a golden era where true consolidation of information will allow us to develop precise actions to close the gaps between known and unknown.
The song to describe my life in medicine: “We Shall Overcome.”
A mentor I would like to see answer these questions: James B. Seward, MD, retired professor of cardiology and director of Mayo Clinic echocardiography laboratory.
Editor's note: Dr. Sengupta is one of four featured speakers who will offer at "taste of TEDMED" at the AMA Inspirations in Medicine event, April 10, 6:30–9 p.m. CDT, in Chicago. Learn more and register.
