Dr. Shankar Das, the new family physician in practice with Dr. Ronnie T. Chu at Physicians Family Healthcare, was one who always had a dream to come to America.

Das is a native of India. He knew he wanted to come to America when he was 14 years old, but he knew that he needed a career and money to reach those dreams.

“I knew that America was where I needed and wanted to be,” he said.

After finishing high school at 17 years old in India, Das then went to medical school and finished with a degree at age 21.

He completed his residence of surgery and got a master of surgery degree. He then started his own practice in India and worked in the emergency room while saving money to pursue his dream.

In 1995, when Das was 28 years old, he bought a one-way ticket to Chicago. He had $2,800 in his pocket and decided to start his life in America.

In 2003, he went back to medical school to get all of his qualifications to allow him to practicing medicine in the United States.

“I knew that I wanted to continue medicine,” Das said. “I have an entire skill set that I wanted to use, and by doing other things, I couldn’t do that. I knew that being a doctor was the best choice for me.”

Das, his wife, Suzanne, and their two children, son Evan and daughter Madeline, decided to make the trip from Chicago to Alabama to begin his practice.

“We decided after looking in several other states that Alabama was the right place for me and my family,” he said.

They have already met their neighbors.

“The people here are so nice,” he said. “When we got in, all of the neighbors came by to welcome us, bringing us cakes and muffins. It was so nice. And Mike and Mary at Larry Walters Furniture were fantastic. They came over to the house and put all of our furniture in and made us feel at home.”

Das hopes that everyone will come to Physicians Family Healthcare in Demopolis and Linden to visit him, and he looks forward to meeting all of his future patients.