Provider Spotlight: Get to Know Hakan Paydak, M.D.

After I lost my father in a traffic accident at 5 years of age in Turkey, my internist uncle and dentist uncle became my father figures. I registered 65 patients a day in my internist uncle’s office during my summer vacations in middle school. He was a great physician who took care of so many patients impeccably without even a lunch break until he died of viral cardiomyopathy at 50 years of age. I became an internist and a cardiologist because of him.

In medical fields, as opposed to surgical fields, it is difficult to cure diseases. However, my specialty of heart rhythm disorders allows me to cure arrhythmias by ablation and prevent sudden cardiac death by implanting defibrillators. Most importantly, the gratitude that I receive from my patients and their families makes my fatigue from long hours of working go away immediately.

In addition, I love to teach our senior medical students how to read ECG’s systematically as well as our first-year cardiology fellows at the end of my one-month course. This is the only such course in the United States, which teaches an important diagnostic tool to the next generation of physicians who will hopefully take care of me and my family, among other Arkansans, when I retire.

Over the last 17 years that I have worked at UAMS, I have enjoyed collegiality from my colleagues, mentorship from our departmental and institutional leaders such as Chancellor Lowry Barnes (who also fixed both of my hips a couple of years ago), and respect and appreciation from our medical students, residents, and fellows.

I love to say and hear from our wonderful employees: “Welcome to UAMS!” every morning I come to work.

After I lost my dad at 5 years of age, my physician and dentist uncles, who supported my mom, two younger brothers, and me, both financially and emotionally, had the biggest influence on my life and career.

In addition, my American host father George A. Marshall, who hosted me for a year at his home in Indiana as an exchange student in 1981, later became like my real father for me for 43 years until he died of heart disease two years ago. An Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame coach, he coached and mentored my then-17-year-old high school basketball star son Vatan, or V-Buckets, in his final years.

First of all, I start my day by reading the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from the beginning to the end for 30 minutes every day. This lets me know what is going on in Little Rock, Arkansas, the United States, and the world. I am a big Dan Brown fan and am currently reading his latest book, “The Secret of Secrets.”

In addition, my wife and I watch one or two Seinfeld reruns every night to relieve our stress. As a soccer player in my youth in Turkey, I loved watching the FIFA World Cup this summer. It was priceless to celebrate my older son Ozan’s 24th birthday and Father’s Day while watching Turkey play against Paraguay in San Francisco, even though we lost the game.

I want to attend the Carnival in Rio de Janeirio and watch a soccer game at their famous Maracana stadium.