Member of the Month: Tasaduq Mir, MD

International medical graduate passionate about treating the whole patient

posted 6.18.15

Tasaduq Mir, MD, came to the U.S. after a childhood in India and completing medical school in Shiraz, Iran. He then completed his residency with the University of Minnesota and a fellowship at the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center at Fort Worth. Mir is now faculty in the Department of Family Medicine at UT Southwestern and lives in Denton with his wife, Sadaf, and his two children, Anoush and Urooj.

Why did you choose family medicine, and what’s your favorite aspect of it? Were you inspired by anyone?
After graduating from medical school I worked as a general physician in a small town in Kashmir, India. In a couple of months I realized how little I knew about managing common medical problems which general physicians deal with on a regular basis. I wanted to join a residency program that would give me skills and knowledge to deal with all kinds of patients. So family medicine was a natural and the only choice. I came to the U.S. in pursuit of a good residency program. In order to better prepare myself, I joined an observership under the supervision of Dr. Pedro Estorque in Denton. Dr. Estorque became a source of great inspiration and motivation for me. I was highly impressed with his work ethic and his passion for patient care.

It is important for me to be a member of AAFP and TAFP because:
At the end of the day we all need a home and AAFP and TAFP is like a home for me.

What is the most interesting/memorable experience you have had when dealing with a patient?
It was July 2014. A middle aged male came to the clinic for routine care one morning. After getting the patient history, I came to know that the patient had lost everything after Hurricane Katrina – his house, his family, and also his job. The patient had no medical insurance and did not have money to buy the medication that I was to prescribe. This was a case which made me realize that patient care is more than just prescribing medication.

What advice would you offer to medical students discerning their specialty?
That family medicine is the future of the medicine and in order to make a positive change in the U.S. health care system, we need more and more family medicine doctors.

How can we attract more medical students to family medicine?
As family medicine physicians, we need to have more physical presence in the medical school. We need to involve ourselves in the medical school curriculum and also lecture for medical students.

What one sentence advice would you give a new family physician?
I will quote Dr. William Osler, “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” So treat the patient not just the disease.

Tell me something fun (unrelated to medicine) about yourself.
I speak Kashmiri, Urdu, Hindi, Persian, and little bit of English. I am a die-hard fan of Persian classical music. I love watching soccer, and enjoy listening to audio books while commuting to and from work.

If you were not a physician, what would you be doing professionally?
I would most likely be teaching.

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.