Dr. Anmol Kapoor
As a cardiologist who saves lives on a regular basis, Dr. Anmol Kapoor is used to gratitude from his patients.
But receiving an award for his efforts — Immigrant of Distinction from Immigrant Services Calgary — is something he, himself, is thankful for.
“When you get acknowledged as one of the immigrants of distinction, that tells me that the path I’m working on is the right path and I should keep working in this direction,” said Kapoor. “The path is to make Canada a much healthier place for all.”
His work focuses on heart disease prevention, particularly among the South Asian community and women.
“It is quite difficult and challenging,” he said of raising awareness. “Doctors in clinical settings aren’t used to looking at it from the patient’s angle. We’re always giving them advice and treatments but sometimes we fail to understand their background, their ethnicities, their risk factors. Some have more demands from a heart disease point of view and some have less.
“The challenge also is making minorities and immigrants aware of the resources available for them. They only come in contact with health-care professionals when the damage is done. I want to make them aware earlier, so we can prevent disease and the damage.”
Kapoor, originally from India, went to medical school in Russia, then came to Canada for more schooling, first in Lethbridge, then Edmonton and Winnipeg. In the fall of 2010, he arrived in Calgary.
He helped establish a clinic in Marlborough, run by nurses, that deals with some 200 heart disease patients, thereby taking the strain off hospitals. He’s also involved in developing an app that will allow patients to be triaged at home. It’s a groundbreaking project, deploying artificial intelligence, that will undergo a clinical trial.
“It’ll change the way we practise medicine now,” said Kapoor, “and will have a huge impact in the next five or 10 years.”