The following is an excerpt from an Interview with Dr. Anju Mathur by Savio P. Clemente for Authority Magazine.
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Myorigins this lifetime was in the Far East. I was born and raised in New Delhi, India. When I was about 6 years old, we were at the movies with my older siblings and the protagonist in the movie was a medical doctor helping people in a big hospital. Right there I knew instantly and decided that this was a noble profession to be a part of as it involves helping people with their most cherished possession: their body and its health. Growing up I was surrounded by extreme poverty and the man in the street just did not have access to healthcare. I saw that the medical profession was highly respected in Indian society because of their desire to help the common man. As a result, the Doctor was equivalent to a God.
This was intriguing to me as a child. Who doesn’t want to be a God? All kidding aside, I went to medical school in New Delhi and aspired to be a gynecologist and was in a residency there. However, nature had different plans for me. With barely any warning, a strike occurred by all the doctors at my hospital and no residents were allowed to see any patients or face dire consequences. Upon realizing how nonsensical and non-survival this would be, as patients would suffer and perish in the hospital with no care, I decided to leave India and look for solutions for so much social unrest, conflict and desperation, not to mention extreme poverty.
Fast forward, after hopping continents, I landed in California and took up residency at a hospital in Los Angeles. While I was grateful to be in America and practicing medicine I was astounded by the vast differences in the degree of humanity and compassion involved in the Doctor/Patient relationship.
My purpose to provide the best quality care for my patients propelled me to continue my search and that quest led me to discovering Functional Medicine.
This field of medicine is the most rewarding and is personally satisfying as a medical professional as I practice with certainty that I am providing my patients with real healthcare.
