Faculty Spotlight – Vanodia lives his passion
Vinay Vanodia, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UTHealth Houston, has a passion for helping and treating amputee patients live as normal of a life as they can. He’s brought that passion over the last decade to UTHealth Houston PM&R.
Vanodia is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation. His primary clinical interests include limb restoration, limb loss, osseointegration, amputee postoperative care, amputee rehabilitation, prosthetics, gait deviations and orthotics. Another professional focus is educating doctors and patients about amputee rehabilitation and prosthetics.
Vanodia did his undergraduate studies in bioengineering at the University of Maryland. He was conducting research on artificial bone growth outside of the body. His professor’s secretary was an amputee. After a conversation with her, he attended a function at a prosthetics lab, launching his journey into a career in prosthetics.
Vanodia has a wealth of education in the field. He did his graduate prosthetics program at California State from 2004-2005. He came back to Maryland to complete his residency in prosthetics at Danymeyer Inc, where he became a board-certified prosthetist. In all this time, he worked in several different prosthetics clinics and taught the prosthetics didactics to PM&R residents at Sinai and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD.
Along his journey, Vanodia realized there wasn’t a comprehensive program to care for a prosthetic patient from start to finish. He learned it takes patients time to adjust to their new life post operation. Many even deal with mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
After going to Vrindavan, India to help out a clinic that serves village children in need, Vanodia realized he needed to go to medical school to become a physician in medicine, specializing in amputations to give the all-inclusive care he had discovered was lacking.
Vanodia did his residency at Montefiore Medical Center – Einstein Campus in New York. While there, he impressed the faculty with his background and supported him in his mission to make a major impact in the field. His last year, he became chief resident. He then discovered the Amputee Trauma Rehabilitation fellowship amputee program at the UTHealth Houston, and became the first fellow of the program, graduating in 2021.
After a brief stay Kelsey-Seybold, Vanodia returned to UTHealth Houston after being highly recommended by his previous fellowship director to run the amputee clinic. One thing Vanodia emphasized was making sure his vision of being able to treat a patient fully at one clinic came true. After some hard work and many connections, he’s seen this dream become a reality.
Vanodia is currently the medical director of the Amputee and Limb Loss Rehabilitation program at TIRR Memorial Hermann. He’s seen the clinic grow from severing patients two days week to being open full time. His passion for helping patients restart their lives is something that drives him.
“When I see them come to clinic with an amputated leg, I see their potential and want to assist in their journey back to walking and being independent,” Vanodia said. “Amputation is a whole new world for them, and they deserve the comprehensive care they need to get back in to life and prevent further amputations.”
In his free time, Vanodia likes spending time with family and friends, working out, playing sports gardening, yoga and meditation, traveling, and spending time at the beach.