MEMBERS
DR . Who
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT NICOLAS AJKAY , MD
Aaron Burch
In 1982 , a young boy and his brother are riding bicycles along dirt roads in the Andes Mountains surrounding Bogota , Colombia . In 1993 , the boy becomes a young doctor delivering babies on the floor of a crowded hospital . 1996 , he stares out of a hospital window as helicopters full of injured soldiers arrive to be treated in the dead of night . In 2000 , in a living room in Virginia , he dances the salsa with a woman who ’ d soon be his wife . In 2008 , the couple becomes a family as their son is born in Pikeville , Kentucky . A daughter would follow close behind . In 2014 , the doctor walks into his new office at the University of Louisville , having achieved the goals that he had set himself for decades .
Dr . Nicolas Ajkay ( pronounced EYE-Kai ) was born in Lima , Peru , the oldest son of a Hungarian father and a Colombian mother . His father had immigrated from Hungary in 1956 with Dr . Ajkay ’ s uncle and grandmother , as Russians invaded the country . Soon after his birth , Dr . Ajkay ’ s family relocated to Bogota .
The beautiful city , which sits 8,600 feet above sea level , has no seasons other than rainy and dry . With a temperature that sits between 40 and 70 degrees all year long , it is the perfect atmosphere for riding bicycles no matter the month . “ I remember my dad complaining about the government or roads or whatever it is people complain about . But then he ’ d say , ‘ But the weather is great .’ What is he talking about ? It took me coming to the Northern Hemisphere to understand ,” Dr . Ajkay said knowingly .
Colombian medical school is structured far differently than here in the United States . There , undergraduate and pre-medical courses are combined with medical school into a 5-year program followed by a year of transitional internship and a year of social service . So , before his 18 th birthday , Dr . Ajkay was accepted to medical school at the historic Rosario University .
Inspired by a plastic surgery resident who tutored him and his fellow classmates in anatomy , Dr . Ajkay discovered his passion for the specialty . “ When I did my surgery rotations during fourth year , I already knew that was what I wanted . The rotation just cemented my desire to be a surgeon .” Due to the pyramidal structure
of medical school at the time , of 80 medical students who entered the program with Dr . Ajkay , just 11 would graduate five years later .
The next step was an internship year within three different hospitals in Bogota covering internal medicine , pediatrics , surgery , obstetrics and anesthesia . “ You had to be prepared for anything that might arise during your social service year , because you may be THE only physician of a small rural community . So , the year of rotations touched on everything from prescribing anti-hypertensive medication to delivering babies ,” he said .
At the Kennedy Hospital , a trauma and charity hospital , there ( continued on page 30 )
Editor ’ s Note : Welcome to Louisville Medicine ’ s member spotlight section , Dr . Who ? In the interest of simply getting to know each other as a society of colleagues , we ’ ll be highlighting random GLMS physicians on a regular basis . If you would like to recommend any GLMS physician member to the Editorial Board for this section , please e-mail aaron . burch @ glms . org or call him at 736-6338 .
JANUARY 2018 29