IN REMEMBRANCE : Waheed Ahmad , MD , FRCS , FACS April 1 , 1940-October 21 , 2022
Dr . Waheed Ahmad passed away on Oct . 21 , 2022 . He was a highly experienced and seasoned vascular surgeon who served the Kentuckiana community for over 50 years .
Waheed was born in Lahore , Pakistan in 1940 as the youngest of six siblings . His oldest brother , 13 years his senior , was a well-known professor of chemistry at the Emerson College in Multan ( which later was renamed as the Government Degree College ) and an author of a chemistry textbook and later worked with the Atomic Energy Commission . One sister was also a chemist .
After his premedical studies , he was admitted to the prestigious King Edward Medical University and graduated with an MBBS degree ( MD equivalent ) in 1963 . After his stint as a house officer in ENT , he decided to go to England and landed in London in May 1964 . His instuctor , Mr . Stringer in Hemel Hampstead , about 20 miles from London , introduced him to carotid endarterectomy and it was a thrilling experience for him .
He earned his much coveted Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons in September 1967 after his requisite years of postgraduate training . He arrived in the U . S . 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 , he moved to Louisville in 1968 . 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 University of Louisville in 1971 and became his mentor and friend . He was invited to stay as a faculty member by Dr . Polk upon conclusion of his residency in December 1971 and worked at the General Hospital and the VA Hospital . He decided to practice general surgery at Floyd Memorial Hospital ( FMH ) in 1972 while working at UofL . He was invited by Dr . William Garner , a prominent surgeon at FMH , to work there as a private surgeon while he continued to teach at the VA Hospital for many years . He pioneered the practice of vascular surgery at FMH and became a dedicated full-time vascular surgeon by the late 1980s , when he gave up general surgery . He was well-respected and a very capable surgeon .
Waheed was an avid jogger for many years ( he ran 10 marathons including Boston , Chicago and New York and 21 mini-marathons ). In 1996 , he was diagnosed with severe aortic regurgitation and an ascending aortic aneurysm . He underwent a valve-sparing aortic valve surgery and aortic aneurysm repair performed by Dr . Tyrone David in Toronto in 1999 . He did very well clinically after his surgery for over two decades .
Waheed served as the president of the Louisville Surgical Society in 2007 and was instrumental in changing the name of the Yandell Lectureship to the Yandell-Polk Lectureship in honor of his mentor . He served as secretary of the Floyd County Medical Society and as Chief of Staff at FMH .
Deborah and Waheed had been married for 52 years and have four adult children and two grandchilden whom they have cherished and loved . Their fourth child , Dr . Surriya Ahmad , received her MD degree from the University of Louisville and completed her residency in internal medicine / emergency medicine at the SUNY Downstate University Hospital in New York and is board-certified in both specialties . She currently works and teaches at the famous Bellevue Hospital in New York .
I have been honored to know Dr . Waheed Ahmad and have been privileged to be his friend .
-M . Saleem Seyal , MD , FACP , FACC
DR . AHMAD WAS A GLMS MEMBER FOR 50 YEARS .
22 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE