DR. ASHOK JAIN

Dr. Ashok Jain’s lifelong pursuit of medicine had a tragic start.  As a young man, his beloved grandfather died in his arms of a heart attack due in part to a lack of adequate medical treatment in rural Gujarat.  “From that moment, I sort of felt my calling.”

From the relative temperate climate of his home state, he arrived at JFK airport in January, 1977 on one of the coldest days in New York’s history.  “That was a bit of a wake up to some tough times ahead,” he now says with a smile.

Since then, he’s brought his siblings one by one to pursue higher education in the United States, which he quickly came to view as the best place on earth to practice medicine.

Today, Dr. Jain is a diagnostic radiologist specializing in MRI and CTI scanning at Oakwood Annapolis Hospital.  It’s vital work because, as he explains, “We are the eyes and ears of the cardiologist.  We interpret various images of the heart, the main arteries and the champers and get a clear idea of where blockages may be occurring; it’s a precise science in which we determine exactly what treatment is required and can direct the cardiologist in the remedy.”

It’s also a little bittersweet as Dr. Jain reflects on the lack of such state-of-the-art technology in his childhood which could, perhaps, have saved his grandfather’s life.  “My joy,” he says, “is in the lives I can save today.”