L+M Physician Friday -- Dr. Sudhir Kadian

An invitation to a summer Fourth of July party changed the course of Dr. Sudhir K. Kadian’s life – and his medical career.

The party invite came from Dr. Honghui Feng, a close friend from the Beth Israel Medical Center at Harvard University in Boston, where they both trained.

The year was 2004, as Kadian remembers it, and he made the road trip from Boston to join Feng for the backyard gathering in southeastern Connecticut.

Feng had much news to share with Kadian, for Feng had recently started work as an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist at a place called Lawrence + Memorial Hospital.

As the two friends got reacquainted at the party, Feng told Kadian how much he liked L+M.

"I remember,” Kadian said, “that Honghui told me that how much he loved it at L+M. He told me it was a great community hospital – not too big, like some of the hospitals in Boston, but big enough where the technology and the people were top notch. He said the hospital always runs in the black and that it is clinically very excellent.”

Kadian took his friend’s words to heart. He applied for a job at L+M.

Kadian’s resume impressed administrators at L+M. He grew up in New Dehli, India, where he graduated from Assam Medical College. Both his residency in anesthesia and fellowship in pain management were at Beth Israel in Boston.

Needless to say, Kadian got the job. Today he is both an anesthesiologist and director of the L+M Pain Clinic.

All these years later – and despite Feng’s high praise of L+M – Kadian says he is still amazed at how fond he is of the L+M family.

“It’s a community,” he says. “It’s the kind of place where most people know each other by name, and that’s a special atmosphere in which we do our jobs, serving patients. I enjoy what I do very much.”

As an example of the camaraderie of the staff, Kadian said the Operating Room staff has played the Emergency Department staff in an annual softball game at Washington Park in Groton for the past couple of years.

“And our president and CEO, Bruce Cummings, he came out to play, too – and he was one of the best players,” Kadian said. “I thought it was very nice that he showed up. When I worked in Boston, I never saw the CEO. Here, we know him by name.”

Kadian said he is very proud of both the OR staff and the Pain Clinic team.

“People come from as far as Watch Hill and places like Clinton and Deep River because of the reputation we have. I’m very proud to be at L+M and to be part of this community,” he said.

To learn more about Dr. Kadian, click here.