“Some people want to be surgeons and hold a knife. I wanted to hold the babies,” Professor Shail Mehta says with his trademark quiet chuckle.
Prof Mehta realised very early in his life growing up in Northern India that he wanted to be a doctor.
“And a kids doctor to be very precise,” he says.
His rationale remains beautifully straightforward. “I just thought that when you look after those little ones, the kind of satisfaction you get is immeasurable, because they’re still at the beginning of their life and it’s up to us how we can help make those babies into healthy children and healthy adults.”
As a neonatologist, Prof Mehta cares for premature babies or newborns with high-risk or complex health conditions.
After stints at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Monash Children’s Hospital in Victoria and BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada, he joined Perth’s Fiona Stanley Hospital in 2014.
Beyond the ward, he is passionate about remaining at the cutting edge of research. “Whatever we’re doing now is based on research and new evidence keeps emerging,” he says.
Prof Mehta’s research has focused on ways to prevent childhood problems by modifying the early environment of babies.
While genetics determines some chronic disease, he says external factors can also seal a child’s health fate.
The Hospital Research Foundation Group (formerly Spinnaker Health Research Foundation) was proud to support Prof Mehta’s ‘Healthy Start’ research project to help women manage weight after pregnancy and prevent obesity patterns beginning at birth in their children.
The trial took a holistic look at the issue and included dietary and lifestyle advice, optimising maternal weight loss, promoting breast feeding and introducing healthy solid foods, among other factors.
The father of three insists that preventive research in targeted areas can dramatically improve the everyday lives of today’s children, tomorrow.
“I am very passionate about preventive research because I think, once we start focusing on those things, we will be able to reduce a lot of problems that we see in later life. And that will indirectly then alleviate the pressure on the health system.”
Prof Mehta’s academic resume also boasts honorary affiliations with the University of Notre Dame and Telethon Kids Institute, while his PhD from the University of NSW prompted a reimagining of the way premature babies with brain injuries are treated in the Intensive Care Unit.
Prof Mehta says what really matters for him at the end of the day are the smiles that he sees on peoples’ faces, be it the staff, the parents, or extended families.
As someone who cares for those in the very first stages of life, the ability to go on and celebrate the everyday is what really counts.
You too can join Prof Mehta in helping children achieve a healthy start in life by donating to The Hospital Research Foundation Group. Every cent raised in WA remains in WA and gives Western Australians more chances to celebrate the everyday.
