Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Silky Patel.
Dr. Patel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As a working mom, minority, and female in a specialty that has been mainly dominated by males, I knew taking on the field of Spine and Sports would be an uphill battle, but I believed in myself. I felt that since half the world’s population is female, that there should be more female representation in this realm of healthcare. I also had a special passion for helping people who wanted to live their best life, but couldn’t due to debilitating pain or physical challenges. I had first-hand experience of this through family members and friends who faced this challenge growing up, and couldn’t get access to proper medicine or solutions, which caused other significant challenges in life. That drove me to commit my entire career to solving this for so many patients in need. I am proud to say that I have now treated and brought relief to thousands of patients using various interventional techniques that avoid narcotics, invasive surgery or extremely costly healthcare.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Many people don’t realize this, but in the United States of America, to become a board-certified physician, it involves the following education: Kindergarten through 12th grade, 4 years of undergraduate university, 4 years of graduate medical school, 1 year of internship, 3 years of residency, and 1 more year of a post-doctorate fellowship. That’s 25 years of school! So my story involves a lot of studying and then moving around the country to attend the most prestigious and well-rounded training programs that I could get my hands on.
What all that schooling didn’t prepare me for were the real-world challenges of practicing medicine. I was about to be in my mid-30s and knew I wanted a family, including children. How do you get through residency, fellowship and start your practice and have kids at the same time? Well, in my case, and in the case of so many female physicians, you end up taking longer than expected to get it all going. For my first position, I was the first interventional pain physician at UT-Houston Neurosurgery, so I knew I needed to buckle down and go beyond the practice of medicine and be efficient – develop protocols, procedures and standards for an organization that had never dealt with my specialty. A few years in, I had my first child, and had launched a successful interventional pain service line in MemoriaI City. After that, I joined a private Orthopaedic group, where again I was the 1st interventional pain physician. I found myself developing the service line for an organization that had never had “one of me” before. I was different, and was told so by one of the surgeons there. And Guess What? He was right. I was a mother, wife, entrepreneur and surgeon! I was brown, female and a non-orthopedic in an Orthopedic surgery practice. I brought my own chair to the table, so to speak.
Sure, there were times where this felt daunting, but my patients were my inspiration. They encouraged me to go further and create more awareness through SilkyPatelMD.com because so many were seeking cutting-edge information and treatment for spine and sports health problems. My goal has always been to treat patients with personalized and compassionate care so they can live their life as pain-free as possible. I believe each patient should be given a chance to live an active life, to the best of their ability, and I’m just blessed to be able to be a part of each of their journeys.
Any big plans?
My future plans are to take SilkyPatelMD.com and use it to attract patients to the Interventional Pain Program at Methodist West Hospital. I have been in the I-10 corridor for over a decade, I won TX Top Doc for 2021 and 2022, I helped my Orthopaedic group win Best of the Best in Houston for 2021, and I helped start an organization for Female Interventional Pain Physicians in Houston. Methodist West saw my innovative techniques and the pure pleasure my patients have in having me as their Spine and Sports doctor. I equally saw them as a leader in Houston for promoting the things I care about – innovative medicine, diversity and focus on patient care. Therefore, we decided to join forces. I am excited by the idea of growing the interventional pain service line and continuing to educate other rising star physicians and graduating fellows through teaching advanced spine procedures. Most importantly, I plan to continue my efforts to serve as a beacon of leadership for Females in Medicine.
Contact information:
- Website: silkypatelmd.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SilkyPatelMD/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/silkypatelmd/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silkypatelmd/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/silkypatelmd/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeKDba-LTLLExV5ukfm4V3w
