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AAIM Member Spotlight

Neel Shah, MBBS

Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
Mayo Clinic School of Medicine

How long have you been a member of AAIM?

Since March of this year, but I should have joined earlier. Dr. Jamie Newman, a colleague, encouraged me to join. .

Describe your typical day.

In my role as a hospitalist, I spend a lot of time with internal medicine residents and hospital medicine fellows. I have a joint appointment in medical genetics so interact with trainees in pediatrics and pathology too. I also teach a clinical skills course to medical students for six weeks spread out throughout the year.

As a clerkship director for hospital medicine, I meet with many Mayo medical students and visiting medical students interested in career development and IM generally. At our institution, hospital medicine is recognized for supporting learners who have not performed optimally in past experiences to get back on track. Whether they had an illness, academic difficulties, or time away for another degree, we provide them with a close, intimate environment in which their abilities can be developed to their fullest. We understand that not all students thrive in a conventional, competitive medical school class, and we have been successful with our model of one to one guidance that has provided many with a second chance.

What is your favorite part of the job?

Mentorship has been one of the most enjoyable experiences. Seeing people develop and form their own ideas, sometimes based on experiences I created for them, has been immensely rewarding.

How has the AAIM membership been of value to you and your career?

It’s very important to my career. We as academic internal medicine professionals are working toward the same ends and facing the same/similar challenges. I like the discussion board and it’s fantastic to see people willing to share their ideas, hard-earned lessons, and experiences, and not seeing ourselves as being in competition with each other.

I recently joined the AAIM Medical Student to Resident Interface Committee. This fits in well with my work on advising medical students through internal medicine experiences through medical school and residency/fellowship, as well as in our designated mentorship program.

What's your favorite moment of your career so far?

In the seven years I’ve been at Mayo, it’s the gratitude from the graduating classes – both students and residents. They nominate us for awards, but I also receive very personal notes and cards, and my office shelves are now filled with cards from my students.

What was your childhood dream job?

I didn’t always want to be a physician. I grew up in the UK so we had to apply at 17. I liked science and realized I wanted to understand how disease came about and work to prevent that. When I moved to the US for residency, I did work on colon cancer genetics which led to my coming to Mayo Clinic for a medical genetics fellowship. Now, I teach basic genetics to our medical students, and how to consider genetic causes of disease to our residents and fellows. So I’m satisfied that I’m passing on to them my continued passion for understanding the origin of disease and minimizing its effects.

How do you spend your free time?

I didn’t always want to be a physician. I grew up in the UK so we had to apply at 17. I liked science and realized I wanted to understand how disease came about and work to prevent that. When I moved to the US for residency, I did work on colon cancer genetics which led to my coming to Mayo Clinic for a medical genetics fellowship. Now, I teach basic genetics to our medical students, and how to consider genetic causes of disease to our residents and fellows. So I’m satisfied that I’m passing on to them my continued passion for understanding the origin of disease and minimizing its effects..

What’s one thing people would be surprised to know about you?

I keep an ongoing list of all the countries I’ve visited – it’s up to 48! My family most recently went to Borneo and climbed Mount Kinabalu. Next on my list – Iceland!