Start Year: 2021
Basics
Hometown
Bangkok, Thailand
Where did you attend university/college?
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Where did you attend medical school?
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Where did you attend residency?
Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami, FL
Fellow Perspective
Tell us briefly about your background before cardiology fellowship.
I was born and raised in Thailand and came to pursue to additional medical training. After finishing medical school in Thailand, I knew that I wanted to become an advanced HF cardiologist and at that time this training was not available in Thailand. This is the key reason I came to the US (and Duke!). Before starting my residency in Miami, I did a one-year research fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic, primarily focusing on LVADs.
What are your career plans in cardiology?
After my training in cardiology and advanced HF and transplant cardiology, I want to pursue an academic career as a clinical researcher who is involved in both site-based research and clinical trials. My clinical and research interests are in cardiopulmonary exercise testing and invasive exercise hemodynamics focusing on HFpEF.
Why did you choose Duke for your cardiology fellowship training?
As my plan has always been to become an advanced HF cardiologist, it was an obvious choice from the beginning to come to Duke, the largest heart transplant and LVAD center in the world! From a clinical standpoint, with a large volume of patients with advanced HF, Duke has a wide breadth of pathology for every subspecialty within cardiology. From a research standpoint, Duke Clinical Research Institute is the largest academic research organization in the world which means there is endless opportunity to learn how to do research from world-renowned faculty. These are my superficial impression of Duke that made me choose to train here. However, as a trainee here, there is much more that I could say about the training here. Fellows have a perfect balance of autonomy and supervision to allow independent practice. The curriculum is flexible, and fellows can modify their training to suit their ultimate career goals. For instance, I was able to enrich my experience in exercise hemodynamics by being in cath lab every week during my research years. From research standpoint, although you can get good exposure to research in many institutes, it's a very rare opportunity for fellows to be involved in clinical trial operation. I didn't realize this advantage before joining Duke but I greatly appreciate it now.
What advice might you offer residents looking at fellowship programs?
Look for the program that not only gives you a good mix of pathology and autonomy but enough support to ensure you are learning to do the right things with confidence. Don't think that you know for sure what you need for your future careers as you have only explored a very small fraction of cardiology during residency. Be open and look for places that give you a full spectrum of experience from both clinical and research perspective.
What do you enjoy doing in the Triangle area outside of work?
Durham might be small compared to many cities but being part of the Triangle area is a huge plus. I enjoy the four seasons without harsh winter/snow. There are lots of outdoor activities to do locally and within 2–3-hour drive (from the beach to Smoky mountains). The RDU airport is also very convenient and pretty well connected.