Dr. Rohit Arora has never deviated from his sole focus of helping people to alleviate pain and suffering. As a board-certified internist and a board-certified cardiologist, he has plenty of opportunities to fulfill his passion for helping heal people.
Growing up, Dr. Rohit Arora saw a lot of pain and suffering. He had a very close family, and him and his siblings were taught by their mother always to show compassion and kindness. He learned the lessons that his mother had taught him, and as a result, both he and his brother became doctors.
It took many years to obtain his quest to heal pain and suffering. He began his journey when he received his medical degree from Topiwala National Medical College, at the University of Bombay. His residency was accomplished when he was at Mount Sinai School of Medicine at North General Hospital. His fellowship is in nuclear cardiology was completed at Mount Saini Hospital in New York. He has a fellowship in interventional cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Dr. Rohit Arora is a compassionate and caring person. He is the Chief of Cardiology and Chair of the Department of Medicine at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Each day at the center varies in the schedule but is entirely full. Aside from his administrative responsibilities he spends his mornings attending to patients. His days are filled with training residency students and fellowships. He oversees clinical research studies. He has also authored over four hundred papers and abstracts.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I am up by 5. I don’t look at my phone until after I pray and have my coffee. I have my schedule already set for the day. I check my emails and address any issues. I go to any meetings that may be scheduled. When I am at the office, sometimes I am looking at the numbers, sometimes I am working with team members. My workday varies. I get home anywhere between five to eight at night. I spend time with my three daughters until they go to bed. Sometimes, I get back to work, or I get to spend time with my husband. I work from Monday through Friday and sometimes on Sunday. Saturday is my day to rejuvenate.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I come up with a lot of ideas. I have to restrain myself because it can’t all happen at once. I have a really great team.
Why did you choose to become a doctor?
I saw too much. There was poverty and adversity in growing up with all of the suffering that I saw. It fortified my desire to help people and to alleviate pain. I have always been an empathetic person.
What area do you specialize in?
I am a board-certified internist and a board-certified Cardiologist. I had sixteen years of more intense training to become a Cardiovascular Specialist.
Why did you choose this specialty?
I wanted to fix other people’s broken hearts as a cardiologist. I had some encouragement from my brother who is also a cardiologist.
What is your daily routine?
I have 12 to 16-hour days. I am a very early riser. I have woken up at 4 a.m. like clockwork the past 35 years. I am at work by six in the morning. I start my administrative work with emails, and then I report my tests. I have a cardiology consult clinic, and I see 10-15 patients every morning. In between administrative work, I have a couple of hundred doctors and nurses. I have to address any of their issues. I also have technicians and heads of departments that are under me. In the afternoons I do more administrative work. I also have research trials, and I do a lot of publications. I usually finish my day anywhere from 8 to 10 p.m.
What do you love about your job?
I enjoy everything that I do. Helping people is what I like to do best.
What would you consider to be the greatest accomplishment in your career?
I don’t really look at my accomplishments. People tell me that I am very modest. Having worked at some of the biggest training hospitals in the world, I was able to serve the veterans and warriors who gave their lives and blood for our country. One accomplishment that makes me very proud is to know that I have trained many well-known doctors all over the world. If you train one doctor very well, it is like a domino effect. It makes a significant impact. Whereever I remember me.
Tell our readers about some of your volunteer activities.
My volunteer work includes consultation with doctors from all over the world for complex medical conditions and heart conditions. I volunteer with consultations in my own hospital. I also work in soup kitchens during holidays serving people food. I go to free clinics for those who do not have insurance. I do a lot of education and training nationally.
Do you have any hobbies?
I am an art collector. It is funny how you see different things in the same painting in different parts of your life. I like to listen to classical music, I find it very soothing. I am a fan of the history of Madison, an era gone by. I also read a lot of Philosophy.
What do you do in order to separate yourself from your job mentally?
I enjoy art. I enjoy writing and reading. I also enjoy classical music. I find classical music to be very soothing. One thing that I have learned is that most doctors do not know how to disconnect. We heal others, but we cannot heal ourselves. We see horrible things every day. We do not have an outlet, it is not healthy for us. We give our lives to healing other people, but nobody heals us. The way I’ve learned to heal myself is to try to disconnect. When I get home, I try to think of the things that I want to do in the future.
When you look forward in your career, what is the one trend that you see impacting your specialty the most?
The bureaucracy and legality of medicine encumbers us and limits us a lot. There are many natural medications and ways of healing. The bureaucrats encumber us from practicing our art rather than allowing us to heal our patients. There should be a more open discussion to allow the freedom to heal with a safer, more natural cure.
What would you like to share about your profession as a doctor?
As a cardiologist, many people ask me “what is a broken heart?”. It is actually the condition when you get heart attacks and other situations. Healing broken hearts is my avocation in life. The joy I get is in relieving people’s suffering and when they are cured, and they are happy, and out of pain, it gives immense pleasure to me. On the other hand, the greatest despair is when a patient dies. The suffering of the family is unbearable with these patients.
I am delighted with my 40-year career. I have enjoyed helping people. I have written a textbook. I have been a department head for the biggest hospitals in the country. However, the greatest satisfaction is when you’re able to help other people. I am one of those doctors who doesn’t look at insurance. As an academic doctor, I am not focused on making money. I am working at a veteran’s hospital where I want to give back to my country as a proud American Citizen and a patriot. I want to serve those who served our country.
One of the things that really concerns me is the bureaucracy and the regulations in medicine which limit us a lot in seeing patients and healing them. My other concern is the fraud activity in healthcare and medicine. It breaks my heart because it is the bureaucracy that impact a patient’s care and suffering. I am very ethical. I try to make sure that it does not happen. I am an advocate of change in these matters.