Tell us about yourself, Dr. Kalra.
I had a circuitous upbringing through India, Kuwait, and Canada. I then left for Birmingham, U.K. at age 17 to commence my undergraduate medical training. I stayed in the surrounding area afterwards to pursue the British equivalent of internship. Along the way, I gradually decided that I loved the academic focus, intensity and structure of Medicine training in the United States, so I actively sought training here. I was delighted to continue my Birmingham streak at UAB.
I am also an epic reader of Wikipedia, lover of Thai and Tex-Mex food, and I do like to run in my free time. I also follow European football loosely but primarily to harass The Godfather, Dr. Heudebert, when his beloved Barcelona or Arsenal loses.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
On a professional level I hope to be practicing Cardiology with a significant academic focus on imaging research. Outside of the hospital, I aim to be as ridiculously happy as Darryl Outlaw and Deepa Raghunathan are, find the cure for post-Domino’s heartburn and be closer to age 40. Location is still undecided. Perhaps somewhere new.
What, if anything, have you noticed about how health care is administered in the US as compared to Canada or the UK?
Each country is the same in having a very diverse internal political and social landscape. This is not ubiquitous throughout our world and historically this has led to immense differences in how healthcare is interpreted and delivered. However, the current socioeconomic climate has also led each system to find itself in the midst of great change.
The common thread that unites health care in all three countries is their unwavering commitment to systems improvement for our patients. This theme became very evident to me during my training, as each of the three systems has rapidly and visibly developed to become like the others. As I have moved between the systems, it is remarkable to see how similar they truly are and how different the media’s portrayal is from reality. Nobody is as good or as bad as they think they are.
As you prepare to leave UAB, do you have any reflections on your time here?
I knew well before I ever interviewed in Birmingham that UAB would offer me a world-class clinical and academic training. Despite working in the U.K. beforehand, I really was not prepared for the unparalleled period of personal and professional growth that I would experience at UAB.
After I got to Alabama, it was hard work constantly reminding people like Dr. Kennedy that I was the only one who had lived in the real Birmingham (U.K.). Everybody slowly accepted this truth. I also found that I was surrounded by constant encouragement to be the best that I could, had unrelenting support for each of my pursuits, and, most importantly, had this phenomenally inspiring group of juniors, seniors and staff to learn from and grow with. These are the intangibles that I found every time I came to “work”. They don’t always feature in our interview checklists or ranking conversations, but they became the most important propellants for my career. Finally, Mrs. Rosetta’s JT pancakes and Magic Wok were great bonuses that really should be mentioned in Dr. Willett’s interview day talk.