A Pioneering Cardiologist Graces the Dare2Dream Awards 2021 Ahmedabad Edition

The Dare2Dream Awards ceremony held in Ahmedabad on December 2, 2021 featured Dr. Tejas M. Patel as the Guiding Light guest speaker, who shared his wisdom and insights with the audience. Dr. Patel was born in Gujarat, where he also completed his schooling on a national scholarship. He graduated from the B.J. Medical College in Ahmedabad, with the first rank, winning the gold medal. 

Today, Dr. Patel is a world-renowned cardiologist and is well-known for his pioneering work in the interventional cardiology domain. His groundbreaking work in coronary angiography and interventions with transradial technique has resulted in a significant reduction in patient morbidity and mortality rates as well as a decrease in hospital stay, making coronary interventions safe and accurate. His experience includes performing over 100,000 cathlab procedures, which is the highest for any single cardiologist in India, and is also one of the highest globally. In 2018, Dr. Patel performed the world’s first telerobotic assisted coronary intervention. In 2019, the reputed medical journal ‘The Lancet’ documented his pioneering work in Robotic-Assisted PCI. Dr. Patel’s team at the Apex Heart Institute has performed over 700 robotics-enabled Percutaneous Coronary Interventions. He holds a very high safety record and has a success rate of over 99.8 percent with coronary interventions. He is also a prolific researcher with over 300 articles and publications in reputed international journals. He is currently the Chairman and Chief Interventional Cardiologist at the Apex Heart Institute at Ahmedabad. Apart from his astounding achievements in the medical field, he has also been conferred with several honors and awards. In 2002, the Indian Medical Association presented him with the Dr. K. Sharan Cardiology Excellence Award. In 2005, he was recognized by the Medical Council of India with the Dr. B. C. Roy Award, and in 2015, he was the recipient of the Padma Shri Award, which is the fourth highest civilian honor in the country. 

On the occasion of the Dare2Dream Awards, Dr. Tejas Patel was kind enough to spare some time and impart his wisdom to the audience. He spoke about his aspirations as a youth and the two main factors that drove his ambitions. The first was he realized that there was a plethora of patients in the country with varied medical problems. However, most of the time the resources were severely limited. His goal was to give the best possible medical care with the resources available at his disposal. The second was, on perusing through medicine-focused research journals, he realized that there were hardly any Indian authors. He tried to remedy this by becoming a prolific author and researcher himself. He also spoke of his goal to bring India to the forefront when it came to cardiology and most of his efforts have been driven by this goal. Dr. Patel also gave the audience some valuable tips for maintaining a healthy heart including yoga, cardio, and meditation. 

Dr. Tejas M. Patel exemplifies hard work, diligence, and thinking beyond oneself. His life and work serve as an inspiration to everyone.