Medha Soowamber, MD

Medha Soowamber, MD, began her VCRC Fellowship (July 2015-June 2016) at the Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, with Simon Carette, MD, MPhil, FRCPC, as her mentor.

This interview with Dr. Soowamber was conducted by the Vasculitis Foundation in July 2015.

“My first peek into the field of rheumatology was when, as a fourth-year medical student, I did a rheumatology rotation. What initially struck me was the wide variety of diseases that this field entails,” recalls Medha Soowamber, the recipient of the 2015 Vasculitis Research Clinical Consortium - Vasculitis Foundation (VCRC-VF) clinical fellowship.

“My interest was further driven by its diagnostic and therapeutic challenges as well as its multisystem approach. Someone told me that rheumatologists are the ‘Sherlock Holmes of medicine.’ This statement is indeed true!”

Dr. Soowamber completed medical school and internal medicine training at McGill University in Montréal, and two years of rheumatology training at the University of Toronto.

“During my rheumatology training, I was given the opportunity to do several oral presentations to physicians, medical students, and even patients,” she recalls. “I received positive feedback from these talks, especially the ones given to patients. They were impressed by the simplicity and clarity of my presentations.”

The Mauritius-born Soowamber will complete her VCRC-VF fellowship at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, under the guidance of mentor physicians Simon Carette and Christian Pagnoux.

“This one-year clinical fellowship will allow me to develop the knowledge, expertise and experience required in diagnosing as well as managing patients with vasculitis,” Soowamber explains. In fact, she finds that one of the most rewarding aspects is the long-term doctor-patient relationship that invariably develops. “What keeps me motivated is the awareness that I can potentially make a positive impact on someone’s life.”

The fellowship also will give Soowamber the opportunity to better understand the current research in vasculitis. “As I deepen my knowledge and gain experience in vasculitis, I would like to incorporate the teaching of this rare disease to both professionals and patients as part of my future career,” she says.

Soowamber is excited by the opportunity the fellowship provides.

“There are still many unanswered questions in vasculitis; it is a growing field with extensive clinical research being undertaken to improve the care and quality of life of patients,” she notes. “With the knowledge gained from the fellowship, I’ll be able to devote my career to greater research in vasculitis and the development of educational and awareness programs for patients and health care providers.”