Why did you become a doctor?

As a child I always wanted to help people and when my favorite aunt broke her ankle and couldn’t walk without pain and a limp I promised her that I would become a doctor and make her better. As I grew up I never questioned that naïve goal. I never could see myself doing anything other than medicine.

Why did you choose this particular specialty?

I saw a great need for improved stroke care as most patients with stroke are not treated adequately. The brain is what makes us human and stroke is the most catastrophic disease that affects the brain.

What is the biggest misconception about your field? 

That there is nothing that can be done to prevent or treat stroke.

What is the one thing you wish patients knew and/or understood about doctors? 

We are trying our best to take care of them but the healthcare system and its regulations can interfere, creating barriers in the doctor-patient relationship.

If you weren’t a doctor, what would you be?

Astronaut

Who are your heroes in healthcare?

Egas Moniz, a Portuguese neurologist and the developer of cerebral angiography.  (Abou-Chebl was the first recipient of the Egaz Monis Fellowship in Endovascular Neurology, American Society of Neuroimaging Education Foundation in 2001.)

Also, Louis Caplan, an American physician who is a senior member of the division of cerebrovascular disease at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and Allan Ropper, the executive vice chair of neurology at Harvard Medical School.

What’s the last good book you read?

The Prophet, a book of 26 prose poetry essays written in English by the Lebanese artist, philosopher and writer, Khalil Gibran.

Favorite daytime beverage?

Iced tea

What’s one thing your colleagues would be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a good marksman.

What’s the best advice you ever received? Who gave it to you? 

My father was filled with sayings but the best advice was to “never take a short cut…the harder that something was to do the more fulfilling it would be when completed.”