New faculty spotlight: Furqan Khattak, MD

Furqan Khattak, MD, is a new faculty member at UNMC.

• Name: Furqan Khattak, MD
• Hometown: Peshawar, Pakistan
• Title and department at UNMC: Assistant professor, subspecialty education coordinator, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology

Research/professional interests:

• Innovation in medical education
• Multimodality cardiac imaging
• Trans-radial cardiac catheterization
• Ethics in the business of medicine

How I fell in love with cardiology: I drew my inspiration to become a physician from my father, whom I grew up seeing dedicate his life to caring for his patients and improving public health. Studying the heart has always fascinated me. Being an organ only the size of a fist, yet powerful enough to sustain life, its dynamism and refusal to give up parallels my journey in life. Being an academic cardiologist allows me to solve mind-stimulating medical puzzles, process two-dimensional and three-dimensional cardiac images, and perform high stake procedures requiring fine motor skills; all while learning from the best colleagues and teaching the next generation of physicians. My joy is twofold when I am able to relieve someone’s distress, which is my ultimate goal in life.

Education:

• MBBS, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan, 2009
• Residency, internal medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 2015
• MS, University of Pittsburgh, 2019
• Fellowship, cardiovascular disease, East Tennessee State University, 2020

Memberships:

• Fellow of American College of Physicians
• American College of Cardiology

Three things people may not know about me:

• Acquiring new skills is my passion. I am a self-taught photographer and architect, and I make professional-grade architectural drawings and 3D interiors.
• My last two adventures were building a 135-inch home theater in my basement for movies and gaming and successfully tearing down a supposedly impossible all-in-one computer to its core to upgrade the components.
• I love traveling with my wife and kids, who brighten up my days.

Clinic location:

• Nebraska Medical Center
• Durham Outpatient Center Heart and Vascular Center