[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23670]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    A TRIBUTE TO DR. ATUL B. CHOKSHI

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 25, 2005

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Dr. Atul B. 
Chokshi, a member of the Brooklyn community and a distinguished member 
of the healthcare profession. It is an honor to represent Dr. Chokshi 
in the House of Representatives and it behooves us to pay tribute to 
this outstanding leader in American Medicine.
  Mr. Speaker, on Dr. Atul B. Chokshi's resume he states that his 
life's goals are to ``be as complete a cardiologist as possible'' and 
``to be as nice and loving a human being as possible.'' To the 
thousands of people of the Interfaith Medical Center community who have 
been touched by Dr. Chokshi's gentleness and caring nature, he has 
already met his life's goals.
  Born and trained in India, with an 18-month stint in England, Dr. 
Chokshi has been with Interfaith Medical Center for nearly his entire 
medical career. Joining one of Interfaith Medical Center's predecessor 
hospitals, Jewish Hospital and Medical Center of Brooklyn, or 
``Brooklyn Jewish'' in the summer of 1978 as an Intern in Internal 
Medicine. Dr. Chokshi has served in a variety of positions leading up 
to his being named the Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab.
  As head of Interfaith Medical Center's Cardiac Cath Lab since 1993, 
Dr. Chokshi has pioneered thoughtful and gentle cardiology care. In 
November 2004, Dr. Chokshi launched the City's first Walk-in-Walk-Out 
transradial cardiac catheterization program. Virtually painless and 
allowing the patient to go home to resume normal activity within an 
hour, Interfaith Medical Center's Walk-in-Walk-Out service involves 
inserting the catheter into the radial artery at the wrist for complete 
cardiac evaluation and even a peripheral angiogram can be done at the 
same time without the use of the femoral artery.
  In addition to being a brilliant physician, Dr. Chokshi is an ardent 
student of the Bhagawad Gita, which inspired him to combine his 
devotion to the teachings of Lord Krishna with his cardiology expertise 
to help establish The Krishna Heart Institute in Ahmedabad, India. 
Since its opening in 2000, The Krishna Heart Institute has performed 
more than 4000 open heart surgeries and 25,000 other life-saving 
procedures.
  Dr. Chokshi is married to Dr. Vandana Chokshi, a radiologist with a 
subspecialty in Nuclear Medicine and Chief of both Radiology and 
Nuclear Medicine at Interfaith Medical Center. Drs. Atul and Vandana 
Chokshi have a daughter, Krishna.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that it is incumbent on this body to recognize 
the accomplishments and selfless service of Dr. Chokshi as he offers 
his talents and philanthropic services for the betterment of our local 
and national communities.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. Chokshi has continuously demonstrated a level of 
altruistic dedication that makes this kind gentleman and master 
scientist most worthy of our recognition today.

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