Offcall Physician Spotlight: Meet Dr. Anahita Dua
Have a response for Dr. Dua? Reply to this post directly, she'll personally read every message. Also, let us know who we should feature next by replying directly to this post!
Sign up for our newsletter
On/Offcall is the weekly dose of information and inspiration that every physician needs.
1. What do you think the public most misunderstands about being a physician in 2026? What’s most misunderstood is the idea that we spend our time heroically saving lives in slow motion…when in reality we spend an inordinate amount of time just being highly trained professional clickers. People think it’s like the show Grey’s Anatomy with dramatic diagnoses, impassioned speeches, maybe a single tear rolling down your cheek as you deliver life-altering news. In reality, it’s more like:
“Hold on, I just need to click through 47 tabs, re-enter the same medication three different ways because the system doesn’t recognize it, fight a prior authorization boss battle, and document that the patient blinked twice—once voluntarily, once for billing purposes.”
Also, there’s this belief that doctors are calmly making brilliant decisions all day. In truth, half the job is: 1) Trying to remember your 17th password of the morning 2) Explaining to a computer why a human needs oxygen 3) Negotiating with an insurance algorithm that has never met a patient but thinks medical care is for the weak and denials are for the strong.
And then there’s the classic: “Why didn’t my doctor spend more time with me?”
Oh, I wanted to. I really did. But I was busy writing a novel-length note to prove to three different entities that yes, the leg attached to you is still part of your body and yes, it does, in fact, need blood flow.
Honestly, modern medicine is less “saving lives with brilliance” and more “saving lives while being audited in real time by a fax machine that thinks it went to med school.”
2. What would you tell a first-year resident that no one told you — but should have? You are not tired. You are entering a new physiological state that science has not yet classified. At some point around hour 22, you will confidently explain a plan that makes perfect sense… and then realize you’ve been holding your pen like a fork and put your pants on backwards. Also, every time you say, “This will be a quick admission,” you have personally angered the universe. That patient will become a 6-hour saga involving three consults, one mysterious lab value, and a family member who “just has one more question” (they do not).
You will spend four years becoming an expert in medicine… and 80% of your emotional growth will come from figuring out how to politely say: “I hear you… but f**k no we aren’t doing that.
And finally: Never ever put anything on hold. This job is all consuming, and if you’re waiting for it to lighten up so you can enjoy your life, you will burnout like a meteorite entering the atmosphere. Medicine needs to integrate into your daily life. It’s okay to be on call and go out to an event – if you get called, you just leave, but don’t not go just because you’re sitting at home waiting to be paged.
Same applies to eating and sleeping both in and out of the hospital. Because the one thing no one prepares you for is this: The hospital somehow knows the exact moment you sit down… and immediately needs you everywhere else.
Sign up for our newsletter
On/Offcall is the weekly dose of information and inspiration that every physician needs.
3. What’s the hardest part about being a physician that you think should be talked about more openly? There is an inherent misalignment between corporate hospital goals and the reason we entered medicine. Committed, extended care of a patient inclusive of the time it takes to communicate, think of a plan and execute it to help the patient is at universal odds with RVU generation naturally. This odd paradigm and the inability for doctors to simultaneously serve both opposing Gods is not discussed nearly enough. And makes doctors feel inadequate when they are in fact doing everything perfectly.
A 12-hour surgery to save a patient's life and the hours of communication in the ICU, family meetings, and consult services to ensure the patient has a good outcome are not typically quantified or acknowledged. But the operative note not being completed within 24 hours of this case is acknowledged violently with a red notice, “deficiency letter” and even threats of suspension. Which God do you serve when you have 15 minutes to write an operative note or 15 minutes to update the family about the patient’s care?
4. What’s the biggest workflow hack that’s saved you time in your specialty? Weirdly, it’s kindergarten rules. Be nice to everyone and build that relationship. As much as the administration has attempted to protocolize and reduce medicine to clicks, the actual successful practice of medicine is still very much contingent on relationship building. Relationships with the patient and their family but also relationships with other doctors, secretaries, the janitor, the transfer center staff, the IRB officers, the cafeteria staff and so on. Because people help those who help them. I have made a concerted effort to use every interaction to build a one on one relationship. Know people's names, know their lives and when the going gets very tough — I need to add a case on and theirs no space or I need to have something reviewed by the IRB quickly for a deadline or I need to get a test for a patient and there are no appointments – my “connections” built through friendship and kindness through everyday interactions suddenly seem to come through for me. That’s the only way to survive this game. It’s a human game and it demands human interactions.
5. What is something you are currently working that you hope will have a big impact on the practice of medicine? Two big things: (1) First my lab is working aggressively on personalizing blood thinners. After surgery to restore blood flow to the leg, all patients are put on the same blood thinner to maintain it and for some it works, but for others, they bleed and for others they clot. My lab is redefining how to manage patients by testing their blood objectively and personalizing their blood thinner regimen so they do not clot or do not bleed. We call it the “goldilocks solution” because their blood is “just right.”
(2) Another major thing I am working on is the creation of a stent graft that comes from the arm to fix abdominal aortic aneurysms. We have developed a stent that is very thin and tiny that is 40% smaller than the smaller stent on the market so it can come from the arm artery to fix the aneurysm. This is especially beneficial for women and Asian patients who have smaller vessels to begin with and will significantly expand the therapy of stent placement for abdominal aneurysm to millions of people who are currently denied because of their access vessel size.
6. Finally, who do you want to nominate next to get the next Physician Spotlight??
I nominate Dr. Trisha Roy from Houston Methodist.
Access the Complete Report
✓Complete quantitative breakdown of what physicians really think about AI
✓Strategic implications for healthcare organizations and AI companies
✓Sentiment analysis of physician attitudes about AI and the future
With over eight years of experience as a vascular surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital and over seven years as an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, I focus on vascular surgery and specialize in peripheral vascular, aortic, and vascular disease. Additionally, as the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at Major Medical Devices, I contribute to advancing innovations in vascular solutions.
Comments
(0)
Join the conversation
See what your colleagues are saying and add your opinion.