MEMBERS
GETTING TO KNOW A SURGEON FRIEND WITH 50 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN KENTUCKIANA
M. Saleem Seyal, MD, FACC, FACP
I
have known Dr. Waheed Ahmad for over 30 years as a colleague and a friend. He is one of the the most senior, experienced and renowned vascular surgeons in the Kentuckiana area. Despite his age of 78 years, he is a full-time vascular surgeon who relishes his surgical prowess and still enjoys working.
The youngest of six siblings, Waheed was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1940. His oldest brother, 13 years his senior, was a well-known professor of chemistry at Emerson College in Multan and was an author of a chemistry textbook; he subsequently worked with the Atomic Energy Commission. One sister was also a chemist.
At the age of six months, Waheed came close to dying with failure to thrive, called marasmus, which is a state of protein deficiency and under-nourishment. When preparing for burial after several quacks tried various unconventional remedies and declared him dead. While he was lowered in the tiny grave, his breathing returned and he started to improve and survived the marasmus. During childhood and adolescence, he was physically very active and participated in sports and was, in fact, captain of the cricket team in high school. In college during his pre-medical years, he was one of the top students and gained admission to the prestigious King Edward Medical Collegewhere he graduated with an MBBS degree( MD equivalent) in 1963. He did house job( internship) in ENT but his heart was not in that specialty. After one of his brothers underwent an appendectomy with gratifying surgical results, Waheed had the itch to go to England to do his post-graduate education in surgery.
At age 23 with his medical degree, he landed in London in May 1964. His cousin and a friend helped him get settled and he was later introduced to a surgeon, Dr. Stringer in Hemel Hampstead, about 20 miles from London, who was a very friendly individual and used to refer to Waheed as“ a guy coming from many oceans away.” Waheed assisted him in his first witnessed caotid endarterectomy, and it was a thrilling experience for him.
A Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons was the ultimate goal that would eventually open doors for professional advancement. Requirements included one year of residency, six months in medicine and six months in surgery to get the license, and another year and half to practice the chosen specialty under observation. He moved to HarefordShire in a small hospital for his Medicine residency with Dr. Basil Miles and surgery with Dr. Ross. People were very friendly and Dr. Ross took a special interest in the“ foreign” doctor and taught him well. He was exposed to all kinds of pathologies and honed his surgical craft. He was taught that to become an excellent surgeon one has to have deep knowledge of anatomy, cultivate manual dexterity and have foresight. He has adhered to two other important dictums including“ First: do no harm” and“ Don’ t be aftraid of blood.” His second year surgery residency was at the Bristol Royal Infirmary University Teaching Hospital where he learned surgical techniques from some highly experienced individuals including Dr. Capper and Dr. Belsey. Waheed spent six months at the Stoke-on-Trent Trauma Center and became much more confident as a surgeon. Following a six month course to take the requisite FRCS examinations, he passed the written and oral tests and received his much coveted FRCS Certificate from Edinburgh in September 1967 and was designated as the sugeon,“ Dr. Waheed Ahmad.” After a brief stint in Pakistan where he found the job prospects to be very few, he flew back to England and did some locum jobs as a surgical registrar. To become a consultant in England was next to impossible, and he needed to have an alternative for his future professional growth. America beckoned!
He arrived in the United States in December 1967, and started working at the Veterans Administration Hospital on Huron street in Chicago, affiliated with Northwestern University, in an experimental intestinal transplant program on dogs. After five months in Chicago, the young and ambitious surgeon moved to Louisville, Ky. in 1968. He had been referred to Dr. Rudy Noer, a Louisville surgeon, at the Western Surgical Association meeting, who in turn introduced him to Drs. Alan Lansing and Dr. Mohammad Atiq at UofL who offered him a residency slot in their four-year general surgery program. During his surgery residency, he worked with Dr. Kleinert and Dr. Norton Waterman. Dr. Hiram Polk arrived as a new Chairman of the department of surgery at the UofL in 1971. Waheed was paid $ 2,500 annually as a first year resident. He moonlighted in the emergency department at SS Mary and Elizabeth
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