Top Doctor – Vatsala Sastry
Talks about her life, her career, and her work striving to conquer infectious disease.
“This is a great time to focus your talents and help others.
To show your humanity. To deliver comfort to people
all around the world.”
Dr. Vatsala Sastry: a hero for our times
Dr. Vatsala Sastry is a phenomenal resource for us all at a time when we are facing a global health crisis, and not just because she is an expert in Infectious Disease with nearly 30 years of practice achievements either. Certainly, her medical expertise is invaluable, and can guide us all in separating myths from facts and learning better self-care. Yet it is also because of who she is as a woman, the child of parents from a highly spiritual and intellectual country who were focused less on monetary issues than matters of the heart, the mind, and civic spirit. Her family took great pride in every grade, every achievement, and every opportunity to show kindness and respect to their fellow citizens.
They taught young Vatsala and her older brother, Nerenda, who today is a cardiac surgeon, the significant value of developing your mental capacity and constant academic improvement. The family also emphasized the importance of hard work and routine chores, which help develop the mind and body. They stressed the significance of confidence and knowing you can learn all you want to know. Her parents taught her it was important to keep your home clean and organized (she jokingly says they were OCD) and to always schedule some sport or exercise, quality family time and personal joy into each day. These values shaped her character and set the course for her career as a community-focused physician, and they can also help us triumph in times of uncertainty and disconnectedness.
“My father, Sitaram Sastry, and mother, Narasu Sastry, spent their entire lives supporting us, advising us and educating us in every way. My father told me to think of myself like a coconut tree, always growing. To rise up and stand tall and straight. Remain elevated. Don’t depend on anyone but yourself. “
All of his, Dr. Sastry says, defined her life.
Mr. Sastry also advised the future doctor not to get emotional abut problems, and to focus instead on the solution. He encouraged her to learn, read and figure things out on her own. He also taught young Vatsala the value of a good education and that the measure of one’s success would be about their achievements and the respect and honors they earned, as opposed to any dollar figure.
Fascinating things I Learned from my parents that define me
- Always believe that you can do anything; don’t let any one thing or person put you down
- Be inquisitive, grow and learn
- Always focus on solutions only, not on the problems
- Cleanliness, home care, and work like cooking bring value to your days
- Do not stress over money, it is not a measure of success, your accomplishments are
- Respect family time, it is so precious
- Share whatever you may have with others. These include food, knowledge and experience.
- Respect our military, always honor servicepeople and repay them for keeping us safe and free
- Organization awareness: staying on top of things defines success
- Make time for daily exercise and sports. Never ignore your health
- You can always go farther if you believe you can
Dr. Sastry was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) and spent the first few years of her life there. Her father, who moved to Mumbai, obtained his bachelor’s degree in Commerce (what they call Business in India), his master’s degree in Commerce and subsequently his Law degree and worked throughout the time. He
believed tremendously the United States of America, and in John Kennedy. He came to Baltimore,
Maryland completed his MBA; and subsequently began working for Singer (the sewing machine company.) He retired as Global Knitting Products Manager of the company. He underwent
extensive travels, back and forth between New York and Mumbai. This greatly enlightened the entire family. Before he completely retired, he initiated a company in Washington DC called ‘Schwartz
tailoring’. His proudest achievements offered an unbelievable degree of education, travel,
exposure, and joy to Mr. Sastry—and to everyone with whom he interacted. He worked very hard, moved his whole family to New York where Vatsala and her brother had the best growing-up experience ever.
Dr. Sastry grew up in New York, then in her early teens she travelled between Mumbai and
New York. She finished her undergraduate degree at University of Tulsa, Tulsa Oklahoma in
computer/electrical engineering. Subsequently she attended M.S. Ramaiah medical school/Gandhi University health sciences and was awarded her medical degree in 1985. Her compulsory rotating internship was served at the same educational venue, followed by an internship in Grand Hospital/Rush Pacific Darien Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
Subsequently she did her infectious disease fellowship at University of Pennsylvania, Perelman
school of medicine. It was the most transforming fellowship. The professors were incredible, educated
the entire country about infectious diseases, and she was able to attend the Wharton school of medicine, which is a specialist in viral infections as well. Most importantly Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the national Institute of allergy and infectious diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, was a frequent lecturer there, and enabled her to expand her knowledge of infectious disease even further.
Eventually, Dr. Sastry became Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease Medicine and remains at the forefront of her field through her memberships in various associations and professional societies, such as The Infectious Disease Society of America and the Hernando County Medical Society. You can read more about this and other distinctions in the pages of her resume.
A Stellar Medical Career
After her fellowship, Dr. Sastry moved to Florida to join her husband, Dr. Ravi Shankar Rao, who was an Internal Medicine specialist and had begun a private practice in Brookville Florida.
It was a fascinating experience since the three counties of Hernando, Citrus and Pasco had very little in the way of infectious disease resources—academics or education—available. The young doctor with her specialty knowledge spent a lot of time travelling between multiple hospitals there and received amazing support from the physicians, hospitals and patients she met. She initiated Infectious Disease work at the Health Department and worked there for nearly 12 years. This gave her an opportunity to work with HIV patients in the three counties, and to secure Ryan White funding for HIV services on their behalf. She took great care of the patients and many of them are still her patients today.
Dr. Sastry also opened OPAT – the concept of outpatient infusion therapy centers, which had been initiated at the University of Pennsylvania, to help patients and reduce the length of hospital stays. It also helped stem the tide of leg and foot amputations in Diabetics and offered many other benefits.
Dr. Sastry has received numerous honors for her work over the years—for research, excellence in practice, community leadership, infectious diseases, clinical drug trials and teaching, to name a few. She was further featured as a VIP Member of Who’s Who. She is a noted speaker for the Merck Pharmaceutical panel and has been a member of several Advisory Boards since 2000. These Boards are run by pharmaceutical companies, regional or nationwide hospitals, and specialty institutes dedicated to cancer and infectious disease.
She has long been recognized for a promise to take care of veterans, irrespective of their insurance benefits, and to meet the needs of all the people in Hernando County and surrounding areas.