Transformation of a Physician Scientist by Aroop Mangalik

When: Mon, Sep 16 2019 6:00pm

Where: UNM Student Union Building

The 21 Club wishes  to thank our speaker, Aroop Mangalik, M.D., for an excellent presentation.

I went to medical school in India starting in 1953, at the age of 17. Doctors, by the nature of the social and economic structure of society, were considered to be high up. Communication was patronizing, and the doctors told patients what they wanted.

In that period, even in the US the situation was similar. We told the patient what we decided was important or relevant. I had a similar approach during my work in India and the US.

I was also enthusiastic about the “breakthrough” we would be making.

Somewhere in my sixties, one gradually changed. I became more questioning of some of the dogma. I reacted against the idea that we must treat the disease and try to fix everything.

I started paying more attention to the person as a whole and noted the limit of medicine.

I will talk about the changes that have occurred in me and to some extent in the medical system. Paying more attention to care and putting treatment in perspective.

Aroop Mangalik, M.D.

Aroop Mangalik is a retired Medical Oncologist and Internist from UNM. He was a former chair of the Human Research Review Committee and the Ethics Committee.

He trained and worked in medical schools in India and the US. He was a clinical researcher and conducted many clinical trials in Breast Cancer.

He remains a supporter of Laboratory and Clinical Research. As he matured, he has become aware of the limits of medicine, the inevitability of death and the importance of accepting this reality. To this end, he is working towards improvement of communication between medical providers and patients. This communication should be open, clear and honest and should be both ways.

He is also a supporter of End of Life Options for sick patients and of Aid in Dying.