After graduating from University of Connecticut with a B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology (Summa Cum Laude/University Scholar/Honors Scholar), he pursued a combined degree in MD/MBA program at UConn. Following graduation, he did his internship at Yale and a year of Diagnostic Radiology Residency at Yale before switching careers to Radiation Oncology with an out-of-the-match offer in Radiation Oncology at UT Health SA MD Anderson Cancer Center. Post-residency, he took a job in Sioux, City, Iowa, for a year.
He was one of the only two radiation oncologists in Siouxland. He left June E. Nylen Cancer Center to join GenesisCare in Modesto, California, where he helped rebuild the busiest cancer center in the central valley and spearheaded the development of the SRS/SBRT program on the new Varian Edge (experienced the installation and commissioning of this as well) along with his colleague. There he worked with providers from various institutions including Kaiser, Stanford, UCSF, local PCPs, local dermatologists, local surgery, and local medical oncology groups.
He was aggressively involved in marketing efforts, often able to get referrals from difficult-to-work-with providers and referrals directly from PCPs. At the time, Genesiscare was the largest integrated provider of cancer care in US. After two years of excellent service and raving reviews from patients while at GenesisCare, he worked at the elite and busy Enloe Regional Cancer Center in Chico, learning how to treat patients on MRIdian technology, a higher level of precision and imaging guidance than that offered by Varian Edge he previously worked with.
Based on his work ethic and clinical excellence, he was offered to stay there as a permanent radiation oncologist. He, however, followed his passion for building practices from scratch and ran a busy practice at the beautiful San Juan Regional Cancer Center as the only radiation oncologist in the town of Farmington in the Four Corners Region, serving patients from the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah. He restarted the shutdown cancer center and turned it into a very busy cancer center within over 35 patients on machine within a short time span of 2 months. He received excellent reviews from Native American populations as well as well others while serving in Farmington.
Dr. Patel is truly passionate about serving the underserved and takes pride in serving the Native Americans in particular. He was offered to stay at this location permanently as a medical director. He instead moved to Las Vegas Valley with his family and is currently working for United Health Group, a Fortune 5 company, as of May 2023. In his spare time, Dr. Patel enjoys writing books, acting, filmmaking, western classical singing (Italian and French), and spending time with his wife Danielle Bellini and German Shepherd princess Belle. Dr. Patel has served on the ASTRO Congressional committee for two terms, expanding on his past political experience in US politics (Political intern for Governor Abbott; Precinct chairman for GOP of Texas; Chairman for Nominations Committee for the State Delegation).
In addition, he serves as a committee member for the radiosurgery working groups for the Radiosurgery Society of America and was recently invited to serve as a panelist at the annual RSS conference 2024 in Chicago. He is also an invited instructor for clinical and written oral board preparation courses with the renowned Osler’s Institute. Dr. Patel is honored to be a part of American Board of Radiology Head and Neck Cancer Committee that assists with writing questions for the national board exam. He is an active member of ABR, ASTRO, ACRO, RSS, ISRS, ASCO, ROECSG. He is loved and praised by his patients, having garnered hundreds of 5-star patient verified written online reviews, 265 of them being on
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alone, the largest repository of patient verified online reviews in US. He has an avid interest in addressing the global unmet burden of care in functional radiosurgery as germane to psychiatric and neurologic disorders. He also has an active interest in serving the servicemen, having served the Veterans Administration in Connecticut and Texas for several years, while in medical training. Lastly, Dr. Patel serves as a Chief Medical Officer for a new start-up I AM STILL ALIVE, LLC, that his wife founded in their hometown, Henderson, Nevada.
Dr. Patel hopes one day he can serve cancer patients and survivors as well as survivors of neurologic/psychiatric disorders around the world without boundaries, addressing the many unmet needs in this community. He derives his inspiration from his wife who is a colorectal cancer survivor and for whom he was also her radiation oncologist. His interest in psychiatry and neurology is inspired by his mother and grandma. He has been doing free oncology consults for people around the world for the past 5 years at no charge as a part of giving back to the society and the global community.