Sanjay Patel, MD
Sanjay Patel, MD
Infectious Diseases Physician
NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter
Battling Infectious Disease
For nearly 20 years, Dr. Sanjay Patel has distinguished himself as a highly valued infectious disease specialist at NYC Health + Hospitals nursing facilities in Manhattan, helping to deliver expert care to patients with HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis and other drug-resistant infections. But his dedication has never been more important – or more recognized – than during the pandemic.
Dr. Patel has been the sole infectious disease consultant seeing COVID-19 patients and residents at NYC Health + Hospitals/Carter, his home facility in East Harlem, as well as at the two facilities on Roosevelt Island: Coler and Roosevelt Island Medical Center, which provided care at the height of the pandemic. Carter’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Margolis says the rates of infection experienced at these sites – all lower than state and national levels – were “directly related to Dr. Patel’s tireless efforts.”
“The joy that I saw in the patients’ eyes as they recovered from this unknown illness – and the joy of their families – has given me the greatest sense of accomplishment so far in my career,” Dr. Patel says. “Seeing the NYC Health + Hospitals family come together to control the pandemic has been quite memorable.”
Dr. Patel earned his medical degree in India before completing his internal medicine residency and a fellowship in infectious diseases in New York. He joined NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler in 2003 and moved to Carter in 2013.
“The work of a doctor is not just to treat patients but also to look for better methods of treatment – both challenges that attracted me from the earliest,” Dr. Patel said.
Traveling daily to see patients in several facilities who were facing the mysterious and deadly new coronavirus, Dr. Patel took inspiration that he says will stay with him the rest of his life. “My motivation to continue being a better doctor,” he says, “comes directly from patients.”