Agios Group
I began my medical career as a rural General Practitioner in the foothills of Himalayas in India. While I was enamoured by the beauty of the mountains and humbled by the simplicity and warmth of the locals there, the urge to understand medicine better drove me to pursue specialist training in UK and then Australia.
I have been very lucky, both in my personal and professional lives. My wife Shaba and my children have been enormous pillars of support, helping me to never lose faith in myself and giving me the space and the luxury of time to pursue academics and write two medical books in the process. Professionally, I have met and learnt from so many wonderful people – dedicated doctors from the level of interns to senior consultants, medical students, nurses and even the occasional patient. I will be eternally grateful to all of them for making my journey a joyful and fulfilling one.
When asked by young doctors and medical students as to the qualities needed to be a good doctor, I always tell them- Remind yourself every now and then that it is a journey and not a race to reach somewhere. At the end, remember it is NOT about you, it is always about your patient.
Agios Health was created to deliver patient care with utmost and complete focus on empathy and shared decision making. At Agios, we constantly remind ourselves, colleagues and staff of what Maya Angelou had said:
They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.
Over the years, having edited books and received numerous teaching awards, I have realised that my true passion lies in teaching. This led to the birth of Agios Education with the aim to provide a platform for the delivery of high-quality medical education for both medical and allied health professionals.
While the annual teaching events Revise Nephrology and Australia and New Zealand General Medicine Update have been running successfully since 2015 and 2019 respectively, in 2021 Agios Education launched MCQs4BPTS, a platform for the delivery of online class room style medical teaching for the medicine post graduate trainee doctors of Australia and New Zealand. We are in the process of creating learning opportunities for our allied health staff.
I would like to end by saying- what we aim to do at Agios has been so beautifully summarised by Patch Adams:
You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you will win, no matter what the outcome.
– Dr. Surjit Tarafdar