CHOC wants its referring physicians to get to know its specialists— today, meet Dr. Nita Doshi, a pediatric cardiologist with expertise in fetal cardiology.

Q: What is your education and training?

A: I attended medical school at University of California, Irvine. I completed my pediatric residency internship, categorical pediatric residency, and pediatric cardiology fellowship at University of California at Los Angeles Mattel Children’s Hospital School of Medicine.

Q: What are your special clinical interests?

A: Fetal cardiology, non-invasive cardiology including infant and pediatric transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography, pediatric pulmonary hypertension, and pediatric heart failure.

Q: How long have you been on staff at CHOC?

A: Eight years.

Q: What are some new programs or developments within your specialty?

A: My team provides state-of-the-art ultrasound technology and comprehensive fetal cardiac imaging protocol for evaluation and diagnosis of fetal cardiac disease. We offer the only comprehensive fetal cardiology services in Orange County, including performing fetal echocardiograms on pregnant women. When necessary, we partner with families on prenatal palliative care planning for specialized cases. We also support continuity of care of prenatal patients with their primary obstetrical and perinatology teams when appropriate.

Q: What are your most common diagnoses?

A: Atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, atrioventricular canal defect, bicuspid aortic valve and aortic valve stenosis, coarctation of the aorta, pulmonary valve stenosis, tetralogy of Fallot, transposition of the great arteries, double outlet right ventricle, truncus arteriosus, pulmonary hypertension, and cardiomyopathy.

Q: What would you most like community/referring providers to know about you or your division at CHOC?

A: I treat every patient and family as though they are my very own.  This connection is what has allowed to us create such an amazing network of heart families.  I am proud to serve as a member of a supremely talented and highly subspecialized team of cardiologists.

Q: What inspires you most about the care being delivered here at CHOC?

A: CHOC offers the ability for physicians such as me to serve a widely diverse patient population inside and outside of the county.  There is a unique and exceptional opportunity for one-on-one personalized care here at CHOC that doesn’t exist in other centers.  In this role, I am honored to learn from my patients and families every day, including aspects of their backgrounds, cultures, spectrum of disease, and their perspectives.  These are lessons that make me a stronger person and professional to support families in the future.

Q: Why did you decide to become a doctor?

A: My parents are exceptional role models.  They remind me to this day that when I was eight years old, I informed them I wanted to take care of babies and their hearts.  They are still not quite sure from where the specific inspiration stemmed (perhaps because they are also in the health profession), but they said that I was determined to follow through on this goal, and I did.

Q: What are your hobbies/interests outside of work?

A: My two-year-old daughter and my husband are my life.  We play, cook, travel, and explore every aspect of the outside world together.  We pride ourselves on learning every trade possible that enhances our lives.  We have remodeled our entire home with our own bare hands, cook our meals from scratch, and thoroughly enjoy every aspect of creative design (event planning and decorating and all things arts and crafts).

Q: What have you learned from your patients, or what is the funniest thing a patient has ever told you?

A: One of the funniest moments was when my 4-year-old patient being wheeled into the operating room to undergo a heart transplant asked me if they could put “mac n’ cheese” in her IV.