Maya Kommineni, M.D., Takes a Whole-Body Approach to Cardiac Care
4/27/2017
Cardiologist Maya Kommineni, M.D., believes in treating her cardiac patients not only with evidence-based medicine, but by also taking a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates examining all aspects of her patients'; lives.
Dr. Kommineni, a cardiologist with Porter Physician Group's Northwest Indiana Cardiovascular Physicians, sees patients in her Portage office and at the Center for Women's Health at Porter Regional Hospital. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, where she also earned her Masters of Public Health. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the Boston University Medical Center after which she became an attending physician at South Shore Hospital, a Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard teaching affiliate. She continued her training at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she completed her fellowship in Cardiovascular Diseases.
Her parents came to the United States from India, where the theory of Ayurvedic medicine is based on the belief that health and wellness means treating not only the body, but also balances the mind and the spirit.
"That belief, in combination with work in the public health field and learning alternative modalities such as mindfulness meditation, yoga and cardiovascular nutrition has shaped my approach to disease treatment," she said. "Combining the newest treatments and evidence-based medical practices creates a multidisciplinary approach best suited to treat cardiovascular diseases."
In many cases, talking to patients about their personal goals, diets, exercise routines and sleep patterns can be as important as medical tests and medications.
"There is a place for testing and pharmaceuticals, but when you really try to understand the patient and help them make little changes, you give them responsibility and help them achieve their best health possible," she said. "In most medical training, you're only focused on the end point: treating a disease. But if you go back to the beginning, you can make changes before you are even diagnosed with a disease."
This means knowing your family history and talking about it with your doctor, and looking for risk factors and seeing a doctor when you start experiencing symptoms that could develop into something larger.
"You and your doctor should be discussing what you can do, what tools I can give you to prevent negative things from happening, or lessen the impact of a disease," she said. "We can't completely overcome genetics, but we can work together to lessen the impact."
To schedule an appointment with Dr. Kommineni, call 219-364-3062.
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