Nayaz Ahmed, MD
Nayaz Ahmed, MD
Primary Care Physician
NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Cumberland
A Shining Star for Patients in Need
During a routine exam a few years ago, Dr. Nayaz Ahmed suspected that a 10-year-old boy had a tumor in his chest, though he had no symptoms. He ordered a CT scan, and the results confirmed his suspicion. But when he tried to call the child’s parents, he found that their number had been disconnected. “So I went to their house, but they had moved,” Dr. Ahmed recalls. “A neighbor said the mother worked at Dunkin’ Donuts, so I went, but she wasn’t there. Luckily the neighbor was able to contact the mother, and I arranged for the boy to come to Elmhurst Hospital Center for surgery.”
That story earned Dr. Ahmed one of his two “Shining Star” awards from the hospital and burnished his reputation for dedication to the patients of the public health system. For 20 years, Dr. Ahmed has been a primary care physician and pediatrician in several NYC Health + Hospitals centers in Queens, most recently at Gotham Health, Jackson Heights, a subsite of Gotham Health, Cumberland. Wherever he’s worked, Dr. Ahmed has impressed patients and colleagues alike for the same kind of diagnostic acumen and concern that saved a little boy’s life years ago.
Dr. Ahmed received his medical education in India and began his career there in 1976. “As a child, I was admitted to hospitals twice, once for typhoid and once for glomerulonephritis, and I marveled at the way my doctors eased my pain and the suffering of other patients,” he said. “Their dedication to the medical profession and to their patients inspired me to become a doctor.”
Now, after 40 years in practice, Dr. Ahmed says kindness has always been key for him. “Gaining trust and confidence from patients helps in healing,” he says. “The peace and relief that I see in their faces after a successful treatment regimen still keeps me going.”