We are honored to have cardiologist Ashish Kabra, MD as part of the Tri-City community practicing out of Vista, California. We sat down with Dr. Kabra and asked a few questions to see why he became a doctor and what the community means to him.
Q. What inspired you to become a physician?
I think it was a mixture of parental influence and soul searching at age 18 for a personal strength. In the UK, you have to decide fairly early on which career path you chose which has its pros and cons. The pro is you get to not waste time; the con is a lot of people are not ready at 18 years old to figure out what they want to do for the rest of their life. As time has gone on, it was clear to me that I really enjoyed interacting with people and hearing their stories. And hence medicine became a ‘natural fit’ so to speak.
Q. What’s your favorite part about living in our community?
Well having lived in several parts of the USA now it’s clear there is a certain way SoCal people live their life – very laid back. I feel fortunate to see the sun shine every day and feel the ocean breeze. So it’s definitely the very chilled out way people life their life here.
Q. What is the focus of your practice? Do you specialize in a certain aspect or take a special interest in a service line?
Well my focus is general cardiology. However, Dr. Bui, Dr. Spiegel, and I have a shared vision of high quality, service driven care. It’s a process to get to where you want to, but we are clearly moving in this direction.
My academic interest is cardiac prevention, cardiac imaging and heart failure.
Q. Why did you choose to be affiliated with a community hospital like Tri-City Medical Center?
Clearly, Tri-City has been in this community for awhile. It’s a smaller, more family-friendly place. There is much to do but with this there is, in my opinion, so much potential. So the expansion plans, the atmosphere and the people I work with make it a place I enjoy being part of.
Q. What would you say to encourage patients across our community to do to improve their health?
Walk or exercise 3-5 times a week. It’s really that simple. We are so sedentary now and obesity is a big issue.
Q. What would people be surprised to know about you? Hidden hobby/talent?
I have a dream to own a ranch with a six car garage and want to tinker with cars from the 80s I grew up with. Need to find a good mechanic to mentor me.
