Member of the Month: Lamia Kadir, M.D.

Compassionate physician focuses on diabetes, vaccinations

posted 09.17.13

Dr. Lamia Kadir’s several passions include patient education, chronic disease management, and women’s health. A champion of immunizations, she recently blogged for TAFP on the importance of school vaccinations and was interviewed by a local Austin news station on the same topic.

After receiving her medical degree from Ross University School of Medicine in New Jersey, Dr. Kadir returned to her home state to complete her residency at U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, Calif. She later moved to Austin to be closer to family and eventually joined Brushy Creek Family Physicians in Round Rock. She considers diabetes a special priority, as her mother is a diabetic.

Dr. Kadir is active in the GO! Diabetes initiative and was recently awarded a clinical research grant from the TAFP Foundation for: “Diabetes 101, a physician-led, multidisciplinary diabetes education program to achieve optimal patient health outcomes,” her attempt at providing comprehensive, outpatient diabetes education to her clinic population.

Why did you choose family medicine, and what’s your favorite aspect of it?
There is no other specialty that affords the flexibility of options, whether it’s a desire to teach, practice OB, become a hospitalist, or maintain an ambulatory clinic. The breadth of knowledge that is expected is both arduous and exhilarating. To be able to answer questions about a child, an adult, a pregnant woman, and a grandparent is what the family in family medicine is all about.

What spiked your interest in the preceptorship program?
My mentors in medical school guided me to family medicine, time to pay it forward. I've always wanted to teach and share my enthusiasm for the science of medicine and the art of patient care. I am affiliated with the Texas A&M medical school as well and look forward to precepting a medical student soon.

It is important for me to be a member of AAFP and TAFP because:
I feel a sense of belonging to something much greater than me, a large group of people who share my love of family and medicine who probably struggle like I do with the day in and day out at the front line of primary care. Despite the task of balancing home and work life, we all still manage to provide compassionate care to all of our patients, the way it should be.

What is the most interesting/memorable experience you have had when dealing with a patient?
I was fresh out of residency at a community health center where most of my patients were uninsured. I met a young Hispanic male (VS) who complained of a cough. After eliciting a history and a normal lung exam, we agreed on a trial of inhaled steroids for presumptive asthma. Over the next couple of months, the inhaler proved ineffective. On a follow up visit, he nonchalantly mentioned he had lost some weight. I quickly thumbed through his chart and noticed a significant drop over several months. I had never known him before and had assumed he was naturally thin. I’m sure we are all aware of that “deep gut” feeling we get when we realize something is gravely wrong. I ordered a CXR, and despite the fact that he delayed getting it (15 miles to the community hospital and a long wait to get a free CXR), I was in clinic when I got the call. Total white out on the right, with what appeared to be a mass pushing on the trachea. He was immediately admitted and diagnosed with an anterior mediastinal mass, a thymoma. He had an uneventful though prolonged course in the hospital. I visited him in those early days, he was appreciative. Little did he know, I beat myself up over not having ordered the CXR earlier. He went home in one piece. The next time I heard from him was when I got his wedding invitation!

What one word or phrase characterizes your style of family medicine?
Comprehensive, compassionate care

What is the most important quality a family physician should have?
Compassion. Without it, a meaningful connection may not be made. No amount of knowledge makes up for that.

Tell me something fun (unrelated to medicine) about yourself.
I have always had a secret desire to dabble in broadcast journalism. I have recently had the opportunity, thanks to St. David’s Medical Center/HCA, to give media interviews on topics such as pertussis, school immunizations, and most recently the flu, and am enjoying every minute!

If you weren’t a doctor what would you be doing with your career?
I think I’d be a real estate agent, I love people and it would have been more lucrative.

How do you spend your free time?
What free time? I enjoy reading books with the kids in bed, visiting zoos, planning international vacations (which I will eventually take once the kids are old enough), and working on my bucket list.

Connect with Dr. Kadir on Facebook here.

TAFP’s Member of the Month program highlights Texas family physicians in TAFP News Now and on the TAFP website. We feature a biography and a Q&A with a different TAFP member each month and his or her unique approach to family medicine. If you know an outstanding family physician colleague who you think should be featured as a Member of the Month or if you’d like to tell your own story, nominate yourself or your colleague by contacting TAFP by e-mail at swhite@tafp.org or by phone at (512) 329-8666. View past Members of the Month here.