Jaffar Shaikh, MD

Growing up in India in a joint family with lots of children around, Dr. Shaikh saw many early infancy and childhood deaths among his nieces and nephews. These illnesses were from now mostly vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, diphtheria, whooping cough and diarrhea. At the time, vaccinations were unavailable and effective treatments were lacking or out of reach for many people. Because of this, Dr. Shaikh wanted to become a doctor particularly, a pediatrician, to save the lives of children and to alleviate their pain and suffering.

Dr. Shaikh treats children’s needs with compassion, patience and understanding of family dynamics. Children are not always able to express their problems and are also sometimes difficult to examine. With this in mind, Dr. Shaikh understands the need for a quick examination and observation skills while listening to their caregiver's concerns. He believes treatment decisions should address the whole family’s needs. He uses his experience from raising his four children, including a special needs child that had multiple surgeries and other needs. These personal experiences have helped him understand the pain and suffering of parents and their families helping him to better recognize their needs. 

Dr. Shaikh is very passionate about his patient's health and wellbeing. He wants to see them learn, lead a happy life and become responsible citizens. He believes it is a privileged to take care of many second-generation patients, whose parents were his patients. He calls these children his "grand patients”. Dr. Shaikh feels children are the future of any community and healthy children will lead to a healthy future.