CARDIOLOGIST IN DUBAI

Welcome to Dubai Dogs Diary, the podcast where we uncover authentic stories of medical experts relocating to Dubai to build rewarding careers. Our mission is to inspire doctors and guide them worldwide through the licensing and relocation process in and on to the UAE by sharing real journeys from professionals across very different specialtities and uh specifications. Today I'm honored to welcome Dr. Yan Nicholas Strickling, a qualified medical expert and cardiologist who has divers backgrounds and his journey in Dubai offers very individual and valuable uh insights uh for everybody who considers to uh have an exciting path like him. Dr. Yan will share actually motivational how he actually choose the career of a cardiologist what were the challenges and why he actually relocated to Dubai. Welcome Dr. Yan. Thanks for having me Angela.

Happy to be here. Thank you. Thank you for having time in your field calendar. I heard you're just coming back from an very uh short night and a long working day, but that's a cardiologist's life, isn't it? Exactly. Exactly. That's what I chose, right? Yeah. Exactly. And that brings me right to the first question. Why did you choose the medical career and why this speciality? Yeah. Okay. Tough question at the beginning. Thank you. Yeah. So, um definitely you know to become a doctor is a lifetime decision. Yeah. uh to become a doctor is um you know you you need to be interested in physics, you need to be interested in scientific research, you need to be you need to learn responsibility, you need to learn empathy. It's not only the academic part. Yeah. So there's a lot of knowledge you need to gain. There's a lot of knowledge you you need to build up over the years of like studying medicine. But also it's not only the academic part. It's also to learn empathy, emotional aspect and to learn responsibility as a doctor because you are at the end responsible for your patient. Like a pilot in a plane who is responsible for his passengers, you are responsible for your patient and to keep him safe over whatever like a surgery or any intervention or in a patient journey overall. So this you know why to become a doctor? I'm sure in school you know you you you're like biology you have physics you have math and like chemistry and so on you you you learn how to interpret like scientific results and when you are interested in pathways like this of course they to become a doctor is a great choice still a great choice and I never never doubt that I did this choice to become a doctor and at the end to become a cardiologist as well very interesting interesting h at already obviously as a young age uh to be interested in school uh in this direction. So you studied in Germany we both have the same home country and where did you studied and why then cardiology? Okay. Yeah. So I studied in Müster. So it's in North Railia. Yeah. Um one of the yeah most famous universities in in Germany to study medicine. Um it it's quite tough to get a place to get seated in in and to to study medicine. Even now they changed their you need to have like medical tests in advance. You need to show that beside your good grades from school you have skills to become a good doctor. Yeah. Because a lot of people are trying to get seated there. Yeah. Um the most um important reason why I choose to become a doctor is maybe my family background. Yeah. So um already in my childhood I went from hospital to hospital because my dad has a congenital heart failure and a congenital heart disease and I noticed okay so I saw him on ICU with all the wires and so and you know when when you are young and you see how medicine is working and that at the end everything went well and medicine can help. Yeah, medicine can um change the life of the patient but will also change my life because you know growing up without a dad would be a m would major difference for me. Yeah. So my dad is still alive. Yeah. And God bless you guys. Honestly, this is something what changed my my life definitely and maybe at the end changed my life in that way, my mind in that way that I um wanted to become a doctor and to help as well to um and also I chose like cardiology. So also there are so many different specialties in in in medicine but also I chose cardiology because I was so impressed by the stuff that cardiologists can do. It's not only like taking care of any preventive stuff like taking care of cardiovascular risks like diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and so on. Um but also doing interventions that save lives at the end. Yeah. And one of this situation happened in the night. I was called at 2:30 a.m. in the in the morning and the the um doctor in in in charge shared an ECG. So it's a severe heart attack. So I needed to wake up. Yeah. Directly reach the hospital within 30 minutes and stay stay the whole night in the kathlab saving a life at the end. Yeah. But you know when you drive home at 6:00 a.m. Dubai is quite nice at 6:00 a.m. Yeah. Roads are very clear. Yeah. And you drive home with a feeling you helped someone. Yeah. You saved a life. Yeah. Sure. As a team. It's not only my my my work. Sure. you we always work as a team but um this is an impressive feeling that you you you changed someone's life. Yeah. And even here it's bit different to Germany. Yeah. So when you end when you exit the the kathlab it's like when you saw it in Grey's Anatomy so the doctor will come out and all the family is waiting. Yeah. All the family is waiting like 50 people are waiting in front of the of the of the cathol. Yeah. and everyone is staring at you and you you you notice how how crucial and how difficult the situation is for each and everyone who's sitting in front of and and they are like taking care they are worried about the the health of the of the patient and when you come out and inform them it's everything went well he's safe and everything is good then you get even hugged yeah so it's it's impressive how how grateful they they the patients are or and the relatives are here. Yeah, that must be the biggest uh motivation exactly to work in your field. Thank you. To continue to continue, right? Thank you for sharing that. This is so if I get goosebumps then it's everything it's true and resonating. Thank you. So Nicholas, you said something that uh you mentioned it's totally different to work here and uh in Germany. Would you let us a little bit know first of all how you make and why did you make this decision to relocate with full of your profession not only visiting doctor but you did uh went into the game with the full skin how and why completely yeah exactly so we we relocated completely as a family I have two kids and we relo we sold our house so we we sold everything in Germany yeah and relocated to Dubai completely Yeah. What is the main reason? Honestly, I was working in the same place for about 12 years. Yeah. And um I I was what what they call lighten the obats in Germany. So it is like a um senior consultant um compared to the the grade here and I was taking care of heart failure and device therapy and it was at the end I was the head of the department but then there was an end reached. Yeah. So um also you know working for 12 years in the same place in some point that you need to place a decision is it something you want to continue for the rest of your life. Is it something you go to like a a clinic like a practis in Germany like a clinic so uh that you you are responsible for your own business or um uh to relocate or because you know um since I I'm doing medicine I and since I'm I'm a doctor I I try to to like change um not only the the the patient's life I Um I was thinking okay what could be very interesting to work in a in a um huge or great city metropol and um Dubai was definitely an option. Yeah. And we we came to Dubai I think three years back now uh at first like for holiday for vacation. Yeah. And um the family did enjoy I did enjoy and lifestyle in Dubai is impressive. Yeah. So in your free time you can enjoy everything here. Yeah. And um it's nearly the safest city on earth. Yeah. So safety is a major aspect. Um medicine as well. So um there's a huge investment. Yeah. In medicine in uh like western trained doctors as well. So actually I'm I'm working with the same medical stuff. Yeah. Like echo machine is the same what we used in Germany. Our cathode machine is same. I use the same stance. I use the same cathedrals. I use same wires. So all um all the the the equipment is same. Yeah. But you need someone who is trained to to use them. Yeah. To use it at the end. And um this is um this like to work in such a vibrant city. Yeah. um is is impressive and uh uh I hope to to grow in my personality as well because when you came come over and uh we relocated one year ago when you come over um no one is waiting for you honestly no one is waiting that must be a very pinch in the ice bed. Exactly. It's so you start from zero. Yeah. So sure you you you you you have knowledge and you have great knowledge a wide knowledge in your specialty but you need to prove it. Yeah because um it it doesn't mean nothing that you are a German trained doctor. You need to prove that you are skilled. You need to prove that you have empathy. You need to prove that you follow the patient and that you care about the patient at the end. Yeah. So um but this will take maybe six months. Yeah. And then you will build up your patient base because that one of the major difference differences I notice here is the relationship doctor to patient. Patient is enormous. It's enormous. So it's like they are stickked to the doctor. So whenever they they find a doctor they will trust. Whenever they find the doctor they are they think he he's has a huge knowledge they will stay with this doctor for the rest of their life. Yeah. There's a big loyality towards the doctor. Exactly. Yeah. Also there is the will that even to share like WhatsApp numbers. Yeah. And um to that the the doctor can be contacted is reachable anytime. This is something um yes it happens even at night time but the patient they respect that when I'm not on call that they need to wait for the next day to have an answer. Yeah. Very good. Otherwise but you know um this is a huge difference. I remember no patient honestly in Germany like contacting me via WhatsApp. Yeah. And being grateful at the same time. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Nicholas, you said the from the work environment it's very different somehow with not with the equipment but let me go a little bit uh before that when you did the decision house selling car selling telling maybe not immediate your inner circle but uh eventually you had to prepare something uh and we all know there is a licensing process involved. Yeah. Did you do it by yourself or did you had some guidance and how how it came and how long did it take you? Okay. So, um yeah, definitely one of the major and crucial parts to relocate to Dubai is at first to have the license because I have family and you know it's not possible to relocate and then taking care about the license after. So um you should start in Germany to take care about the license because there are so many different processes and so many different areas when you where you need to work on. Yeah. Um medical license here in Dubai I thought it's much easier than it was at the end. It took around one and a half years. Yeah. Um I in the beginning I had some guidance. Yeah. But uh this uh this person failed at the end. Yeah. Um so I I did it on my own at the end. I know there are some like companies and you're doing uh that stuff as well. So to support doctors who wants to want to relocate because it is a very tough process and there are a lot of steps and when you do the the the wrong step in the wrong time you can fail. Yeah, definitely also not actually uh get yourself exempted from any exam if you don't put the smart in and that's the major reason why some people who have their offices in India or relocate uh or delegate the process of the verification that they don't know the system in Germany and or maybe as well in UAE and then comes different things together makes a whole easy case obviously which is already difficult but yet uh manageable. But if you don't know the system, then you will have a big runaround and put yourself in a position where you maybe also take a loss of your um of your uh crate of uh knowledge. Yeah. You not being a consultant where you could have when you only be rated as a as an specialist. Yeah. Exactly. So um you said that you had somebody in the beginning. How would you think you figure out who is a quality guidance for you to have an this whole workload maybe to take over or delegate it to an agency or to somebody like us who's guiding with the whole process. Okay. So for me as um I started to inform myself about like um how how to relocate. Yeah. I found this person um on social media. Yeah. And I tr at the beginning I trusted because you know um it's we had some zoom calls and um it it seems to be easy but at the end it wasn't honestly because um it was like you need to go this pathway and um I will show you the pathway but each step you need to take on your own but this this doesn't work but because in each step you need guidance So you cannot tell me that's the road you need to take and then leave me without a car and this a far far far away goal you need to reach. Yeah. So and it's not only authorities like dataf flow or DHA here in Dubai. It's also the German authorities who who are not like answering questions from dataf flow bash. So for example, so um one of the the major points where I noticed I need to do it on my own was I I saw that a lot of questions queries were coming in and they were left unanswered by this person. Yeah. So I realized okay you need you know every document you achieve in Germany needs to be like certified by the authority. It needs to be and there needs to be another certification of the upper authority. What is so you will not know if you're not taking care on your own. Yeah. And at the end nowadays I have three different licenses because I started as an internal medicine consultant. Yeah. And then that's the outcome of it. That's the outcome. Maybe it took that long because I have three licenses now. Yeah. So I'm consultant for internal medicine, consultant for cardiology and specialist for interventional cardiology. So in Germany I have two fats title. what is internal medicine and and cardiology but here for interventional cardiology you need to have a special license at on it's different to to Germany to understand the both systems it's on its own it's actually okay it it's already a major work but it is to connect both of them that they communicate with each other on a successful base and that's something I'm very grateful that also you support us as an ambassador to guide doctors as as well with the specification question in in the medical field. So tell us a little bit about more about how is it working as a cardiologist here in Dubai. Okay. You said you're coming back from uh from work or was called that that's not much different from Germany, right? What is the major differences? What you think? Okay. Um at the beginning I I told you already so it is um my work is divided into two parts. Yeah. Um one part is the non-interventional cardiology part one is the interventional cardiology part. Yeah. So non-intervention cardiology means like a lot of preventive work and this is something what is made made a crucial difference to Germany because in Germany I thought okay because of the higher average age we are running always running behind any disease here we have a much less average age and we are and a lot of people here are interested in preventive medicine so they want to have a cardiac checkup up like a treadmill test or echo cardiogram and so on. So we are ahead one at least one or two steps ahead of a disease to and to catch a disease in an early stage makes sense. It's like a cancer. Yeah. So when you catch it early you can treat it. Yeah. And when you go for preventive medicine it's the best because you know you can avoid what happens maybe in 10 or 20 years. Yeah. So it's about like treating cardiovascular risks and doing echos interpretation of ECG and stress test. So this is like same as in Germany. So the the procedure itself but when to perform is the major difference. So I I'm doing like preventive and health checkups in patient like 30 years. Yeah. And you know most likely it will be will come out clear but still we have it's like a filter. Yeah. Still we have some patient they have some some results some abnormal results and we need to go on. You help them then to get the guidance of preventing everything. Of course. Of course. Yeah. So, and even when it's just like a high blood pressure reading. Yeah. So, we guide them. Maybe it's only diet dietary, it's only like a lifestyle change like um high cholesterol and so on. But um this is something when we when we act now, we can prevent these patients for from having a heart attack in 10 or 20 years. Yeah. So, there that's um the non-interventional part. The interventional part here um for me as an interventional cardiologist um it's different in a negative way. Yeah. The negative way is the amount and the number of cases you're doing because again of the lower average age I'm doing much less interventional cases compared to Germany. So I remember like doing 10 15 cases a day in Germany and this is something happens in a month. Yeah. And um but also these cases are different. Yeah. Because the youngest person I treated with a heart attack was 28 years old. No way. 28. Yeah. So um here in Dubai. Here in Dubai. Here in Dubai. And um there is one ethnicity what is under major risk. What is Indian Pakistan? This area is under major risk. And um most likely it's genetics. It is um lifestyle. It is like metabolic syndromes. Um stressful jobs definitely yeah stress um overall is a major trigger in cardiovascular disease and even here in Dubai I just recently saw a real where you see the world outside Dubai is turning like this and inside Dubai is like this and it's true you can time here exactly yeah and so stressful jobs are a major trigger and um therefore the these ethnicities like under my special control honestly yeah because they they are under risk and there are some tests where we also can test for genetically high cholesterol for example. Yeah. And this belongs to my like standard procedures. No one else is doing this. Yeah. But um this makes sense to search for something like this. Yeah. Yeah. I saw a lot of keynotes from you regarding AI. How is that uh something that you find especially in Dubai to work with on this technology level that I think it's advanced? Tell us a bit more about that. Yeah. Okay. So to use AI overall we are using AI daily on a daily base but to use AI in cardiology makes sense because it's always about risk calculation. Yeah. And you have an individual case you have every patient is different. Yeah. And there are some tools, some gadgets what helps us to um guide the patient at the end. Yeah. So by entering for example um blood tests uh by entering the ECG by entering the findings in my echo um there are some tools available who will calculate the risk for classification of the coronary arteries. So like a coronary heart disease. Yeah. And also there are some tools available they are like equal like a CT scan. Yeah. So they deliver the same result as a CT scan. And um with these tools we can like um we can avoid for example if if we avoid a CT scan we can avoid radiation and radiation dose overall is something what can harm. Yeah. So unnecessary examinations treatments can be reduced. Yeah. So this is something where we use AI already. There is um also we are using AI in the Kath lab. Yeah. So there are for example um if we want to see how how much calcification inside the vessel is there. So we have some tools to look inside the vessel itself and to calculate how long is the the um the stand needed and what will be the result when we stand in this area for example. Yeah. Is it enough to stand one or is there a need to place another stand and how to prepare um the lesion you're treating? And this um gives me as as an intervention cultures a lot of guidance as well and reassurance that I'm on the correct way. Yeah. So um there's no robotic who's performing the procedure right now. Maybe in the future, we don't know. But um at the moment it's like augmenting my performance as an cardiologist. Yeah. By like diagnosing the the correct way and by um augmenting my performance in the Kath lab. Very good. Is that different from working in Germany or you have similar ter techniques in Germany or is it something really advanced that you say okay I'm very happy on that note also to be here in Dubai because it's also a little bit of advanced uh technology that I have how you okay differentiate that I I think it's same as in Germany for example the the first tool I explained to you what uh by by feeding this um this with laboratory results ECG is invented in Switzerland So it is a European product. Yeah. And it's tested in Germany as well and it's known in Germany as well. So definitely something what comes over time only. Yeah. Because everyone is searching for AI and everyone is like um uses AI and um gets to know that it will support us and it will augment and um let us perform better. Yeah. So I think it's worldwide to um to use these products and they are available um in Europe as well. I see. Okay. Okay. Good. So if somebody wants to come here to Dubai, what are the major three steps that you would advise them to do and things to avoid? So um three maybe at first three steps that um are crucial. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. um build up maybe first step is to build up um knowledge in European country like uh because then you will see a lower number of patients here in Dubai. Yeah. So it is not a place to learn something new. Yeah. So you need to bring your skills because of less patient numbers. It is you need to know already what you're doing. nothing to be invented for you. I see. Yeah. So this is something build up like a um a basement in your knowledge that where you can build on and where you can trust on. So this is number one. What is number two? Um be open um to treat nearly the whole world. Yeah. So I treat patients from from every country on this planet. Yeah. It's such a good thing. It's such it's like a melting pot of of African Middle East. I have like about like 40% Emiratis. Yeah. In in my hospital when I'm treating um Europe, America, New Zealand. Yeah. So um you need to be open-minded. Yeah. Um you need to be open-minded if you want to relocate to Dubai because this city is like this. It's a melting pot of every nationality and everyone is respected. Yeah. What is the the major benefit? Yeah. Um what is the third one? Um yeah, prepare yourself to start from the beginning. Yeah. Um don't rely on the position you have had before because no one will care about you have been like no obs in Germany before. No one will take care. Yeah. So you need to show and you need to to um be open to network. you need I remember you know in the the first days and weeks when I came over I was sitting in my office without any patients and that's totally different because when you open up like a cardiology clinic in in in Germany I think on the first day there will be 100 patients waiting in front of the door and knocking the door let us in yeah so it's totally different but this will build over time you need to be patient this will take time but it will come when when the there's a lot of like word of mouth. Yeah. Yeah. You are in the desert. Yes. And you need much much more more water to get your caravan going. Exactly. And uh therefore you need to have a good network. And um one more last thing to ask is uh in Germany we do not have this kind of marketing around your specification, your doctorhood, your medical career. I I mean we see some of them but here in Dubai it is something essential. It's a at least something that even ask the HR who is doing your marketing when they are thinking about employing you isn't it? Yeah of course of course so when I when I relocated I started like building up a Instagram account LinkedIn and Tik Tok and so on. Yeah, because before even you you're not using it, but there is no need for it because you know in Germany you have the patience already here. You need you need to you you need to be seen. Yes. You need to be visible. Yeah. Exactly. You need to show that you are skilled. You you need to show and I'm doing this with like medical education. So I'm doing like short videos for example how to to take an ECG on your own and um what are the steps in in cardiovascular risk treatment and so on. So uh this is something what what is totally different to Germany because there was no need honestly there was no need to sure there are a lot of like German doctors as well they have like a huge LinkedIn profile and they're sharing like interesting cases and so on but um only for informative reasons yeah but here is also to gain patience honestly yeah because visible and trust trusted actually exactly exactly to show your skills to show that you're skillful and that to show that you are also interested to share your your your um your knowledge. Yeah. Well, thank you, Yan, that we could pick your brain. Um where we can find you on the last note, we going to put everything in the show note, but just let us know where we find you and um yeah, if people wanted to get in contact with you. I think you are open of having a zoom when we organize it when people wants to know how it is as a father to be here in Dubai as a cardiologist and what to do with the salary. There's so many questions that our our clients have and uh we are happy to send them to but let us know where we find you on Instagram. On Instagram and on LinkedIn LinkedIn just search for my name. Yeah. So you will find me there and on uh Instagram it's Dubai Heart Doctor. Yeah. And um not that much followers. So you're open to follow. Yeah. So we're going to boost it. We're going to boost this. Yeah. Um but you you receive a lot of positive feedback. Yeah. And from different areas. And um you're you're seen you're visible there. Yeah. So happy for this. Thank you. Thank you for being here and being ambassador of Dubai fast track. Sure. Thank you Angela. Bye bye.