Mercy Hospital Ada has named pulmonologist and critical care specialist Dr Imtiaz Ahmed as its vice president (Medical Affairs).
Dr Ahmed, who took up his new assignment on April 1, will join the hospital’s senior management and provide leadership to clinical staff and administrators. He will focus on implementing new initiatives for the hospital and will lead the quality team to improve overall care.
“Dr Ahmed is passionate about providing specialized services to patients who are unable to travel long distances for care and values the opportunity to care for his patients throughout the entire spectrum of illness,” Mercy Hospital Ada President Lori Wightman said. “He is a physician-leader in every sense of both words.”
Ahmed, who has been Mercy Ada’s chief of staff since 2014, is board-certified in pulmonary medicine, critical care medicine, internal medicine and sleep medicine. He traces his interest in medicine to the compassionate care his father received from Pakistani physicians after his diabetes, high blood pressure and peripheral neuropathy worsened. The family had to relocate to the southern Pakistani city of Karachi when East Pakistan became part of Bangladesh in 1971, displacing millions. Ahmed’s father travelled back and forth between Pakistan and Bangladesh for several years, neglecting his health during that turbulent time and setting himself up for poor health later in life.
“His diabetes and high blood pressure were definitely uncontrolled during that time,” Ahmed said.
The attention his father received from a cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Iftikhar Rathor, particularly stood out. He performed surgery for fibromyosarcoma for free and was the epitome of professionalism and courtesy.
“Knowing that the two sons were a physician and a physician-to-be, he didn’t charge us,” Ahmed said of himself and his brother, now an otolaryngologist in Ireland.
After completing a residency in internal medicine, Ahmed wanted to go into either nephrology or critical care. His father’s advanced kidney disease made nephrology appealing, but the pace and pressures of critical care suited him better.