Cardiologist joins Oaklawn Medical Group's Heart & Vascular Institute

Cardiologist joins Oaklawn Medical Group’s Heart & Vascular Institute

MARSHALL – When Aajay Shah was a high school student in India, he recognized that – whatever career he pursued – he wanted to be directly involved in people’s lives.

“I’ve always enjoyed working with people and caring for them. I’m a people-type person,” Shah said. “I enjoy talking with people, and making them feel like they’re part of my family.”

So it seemed natural that the practice of medicine would attract him.

“You can make an impact so quickly on a person’s life – and I enjoy that,” he said. “I learned that, if I could make a person feel better right away, that’s something I would want to do.”

Shah, a cardiologist, now is joining the Oaklawn Medical Group’s staff of physicians at Marshall, to which he’ll be moving from Okemos, his home for 18 years.

Shah, 50, will work with Farid Zayed, M.D., as a non-invasive cardiologist under the auspices of Oaklawn’s Heart & Vascular Institute.

Shah is a native of the Indian state of Gujarat, a region that also was the native state of legendary peace activist Mohandas Gandhi.

Like Gandhi and much of the population of Gujarat, Shah is a vegetarian – a dietary regimen that he also happens to encourage for good heart health.

Shah began his medical studies in 1980 at the Smt. N.H.L. Municipal Medical College in Ahmedabad, India. After graduating in 1986, he prepared for the United States Medical Licensing Examination.

“I came to the U.S. for the training,” Shah said. “And I had thought I was going to go back to India.” However, after he his wife Jayshree had two children in the United States – son Amish and daughter Saloni – the United States seemed more like home.

“It was hard to go back,” said Shah, who has returned to India at times to visit family. Shah’s parents continue to live in India.

Saloni recently graduated from high school and Amish recently began his studies in law school, Shah said.

Shah served a transitional and internal medicine residency at McNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Ill., and Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit from 1988 to 1992, and from 1992 to 1995 served a cardiology fellowship at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, Mass.

Shah, who is board-certified as a cardiologist, had been in private practice in Okemos since 1995. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.

Shah’s experience includes pacemaker implants, cardiac catheterization, transesophageal echocardiography as well as nuclear and vascular studies.

Over the course of his work in Okemos, Shah was a speaker at events held at Schuler’s restaurant in Marshall. That gave him an opportunity to get acquainted with the town where he eventually would choose to work.

“I’ve always been impressed by Marshall,” Shah said. “It’s a very welcoming community with down-to-earth people. So, I already had a good impression. Also, I found that there was a very friendly, teamwork approach among the physicians in Marshall. They work like a team.

“So, I knew already that Marshall would be a good place,” he said, adding that ultimately he would like to move his family here.

Shah’s hobbies include travel in the continental U.S. as well as in South America, Africa and Europe. He also enjoys reading, with a special focus on business management and historical topics.

“We’re absolutely thrilled that Dr. Shah, who has such a breadth of expertise and background in cardiology, is joining the Oaklawn family and the Marshall community,” said Mark A. Montross, Executive Director of the Oaklawn Medical Group.

“Our patients will certainly love his genuine and caring personality” Montross said.

People who would like to receive help in finding a family-practice physician or being referred to another Oaklawn Medical Group physician may call 1-888-OAKLAWN (625-5296).