Recipient of Prof KC Kandhari Foundation Award by IADVL Interviewed by Dr DA Satish, Co-chairperson-Dermacon International 2019, Bengaluru

Dr Satish: Congratulations on getting the prestigious Prof Dr KC Kandhari Award from IADVL for lifetime meritorious service to Dermatology. What are your thoughts and feelings on being the unanimous choice for the award?

Dr Parikh: I still cannot believe it. It is such a huge honor to receive this prestigious and coveted award. I did not believe it when Dr Umashanker first informed me. I called him again to confirm. I thank the selection committee members for nominating me. I know that since last few years’ members apply and even canvass for this prestigious award. So, it came as great surprise to me. Yet another point is, so far, most awardees in the past were full time post graduate teachers while I am not.

Dr Satish: Tell us about your childhood and medical college days. Why did you choose Dermatology and who were your role models?

Dr Parikh: I spent my early childhood in a small village in Gujarat. Oh! they were most memorable days and their memories are still very fresh in my mind. My parents then shifted to Mumbai. I did my graduation and post-graduation from Grand Medical College and JJ Hospital. Then I joined the Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai as Lecturer.

My father was a renowned Dermatologist and I was fortunate to see him work very closely and he inspired me to take up dermatology and was my role model. I was fortunate to have worked with stalwarts like Dr Lesli Marquis, Dr RG Valia and Dr Rui J Fernandez.

Dr Satish: You single handedly brought up Pediatric Dermatology in India to great heights. What were the challenges you faced during this period?

Dr Parikh: First, let me clarify I was not alone in this journey; there have been few who supported me - just like you. You actually started our first bulletin of Pediatric Dermatology which has now become a robust journal “Indian Journal of Pediatric Dermatology” edited by Dr Sandipan Dhar. Sandipan is at present working very hard to get this journal indexed in PubMed. I cannot forget whole hearted support from You, Dr S Criton, Dr Manish, Dr Rajesh, Dr Rajeev, Dr Raghubir, Dr Rajib and of course Sandipan.

You will agree as we worked together that the biggest challenge was convincing our own fraternity about the need of this specialty. To make them understand that a child is “NOT A MINIATURE ADULT”. However, situation has changed a lot since then. Now Pediatric Dermatology is well established specialty and most post graduate training includes this as a subject.

Dr Satish: What were your achievements as President of IADVL?

Dr Parikh: IADVL is a scientific body and for the first time we started supporting research projects. We carried out workshops to educate young minds about research methodologies.

We brought about financial accountability in holding DERMACONS. So far IADVL Academy was working on auto mode. We redefined the role of academy.

There had been lot of changes in our constitution but it was not properly documented in the constitutional book. We updated the constitution.

Dr Satish: Tell us about your family, your hobbies and other non-academic interests?

Dr Parikh: My wife Varsha is a Dermatologist and also teacher for Hindustani classical music. My daughter is a Physiotherapist and son is an alumnus of IIT-Mumbai and IIM-Ahmedabad. They are my sounding board.

I love to travel and trek. Recently, I had been to Antarctica - the most amazing place on the earth. My passion is wildlife and landscape photography and I love cooking.

Dr Satish: What is your advice to the present-day young dermatologists who now look upon you as a legend?

Dr Parikh: Currently, I see lot of attraction towards esthetic dermatology. Nothing wrong in it. However, clinical dermatology will and should always remain the mainstay. Today’s patients are well-informed thanks to internet. More litigation cases are expected in the days to come the way our modern society is molding over last one decade or so. We need to take time to explain them their problems and treatment options.