My personal Experience with Dr Collin Cullen

In my half a century of stay in the USA, Dr. Collin Cullen is just the second internist, that I am seeing for my general preventive healthcare. I am a long-term diabetic (>20years), and I do need constant check-ups to keep me free of diabetes-related clinical complications, such as neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, and vasculopathy. I started seeing Dr. Cullen when we moved from Minnesota to Maryland (2005). Since I am an experienced researcher in the area of cardiometabolic diseases, I was confident that I am taking good care of my health. In addition my spouse, Yashoda is a doctor and hence has added confidence. However, I was not sure that the medical management of my glycemic load was good enough to prevent the early development of diabetes-related clinical complications. Of course, Dr. Cullen always assures me that the main goal of preventive care is, to prevent associated clinical complications and comorbidities. I constantly volunteer myself as a guinea pig for research studies. In one such study recently in India, I tested myself for any vascular dysfunction using thermal imaging (Gayathri C and Rao GHR: Thermal Imaging for the Diagnosis of Early Vascular Dysfunction: A Case Report (J Clin. Cardiol. Diagn 2 (2):1-10, 2020). Although my HbA1c is 7.2 which is quite modest for my age (82), I was surprised to see moderate risk in a comparative subject (Smoker) with HbA1c of 6.5, while mine was at low risk. This was quite surprising and tells a lot about the robust management of not only glycemic load but also all possible associated clinical complications. I do discuss quite a bit with Dr. Cullen my ideas and experiences and he always listens to me with great patience and enthusiasm. Bedside manners of a clinician go a long way in assuring the patients' confidence in preventive healthcare as well as in self-empowering. Looking forward to a life-long association with Dr. Collin Cullen.