“When you come to Eisenhower, especially the intensive care unit, we are going to treat you as family,” says Dr. Shahriyar Tavakoli. “The nature of my job is mostly hospital-based, taking care of critically ill patients in the intensive care unit and patients with chronic lung disease. To be a good critical care physician, you have to be calm and observant and have open communication with patients and their families.”
Tavakoli is board-certified in internal medicine, critical care, and pulmonology. Prior to joining Eisenhower Medical Center in 1996, he did a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care at the National Institutes of Health and The George Washington University. He has held multiple leadership roles at Eisenhower and takes over as chief of medical staff in January 2014.
In addition, he is launching Eisenhower’s medical residency program, which will offer 22 residencies in internal, family, and preliminary medicine. “There are several advantages to having a residency program at Eisenhower Hospital,” he says. “Number one, more physicians will come to the community after their residency; two, it will raise the bar for all the physicians to be better healers; and three, it will bring new technologies to the valley, and especially to Eisenhower Medical Center.”
While Tavakoli’s schedule is almost always full, he does take breaks. “In my free time, I like to spend time with my friends and my colleagues,” he says. “One of the important things when we get together is we try not to talk about medicine. I love to talk about traveling and sports — especially soccer — and we also enjoy time with our families and our kids.”