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Patient Experience
an intense focus
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Farris Shenaq continues his parents’ commitment to exceptional health care
Son Honors Parents’ Wishes for the Perfect Gift
“Above all else, she loved being a doctor and practicing medicine the right way.” This is how Farris Shenaq describes his late mother, Dr. Salwa Shenaq. Dr. Shenaq enjoyed a decades-long career as an anesthesiologist, working alongside famed cardiovascular surgeons Dr. E. Stanley Crawford and Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, both of whom she considered to be her great mentors. The penchant for always doing her very best in the complex care of heart patients from across the globe is what Farris remembers most about his mother. He was not surprised, therefore, to learn that she had set aside funding in her will to support quality and patient safety at Houston Methodist.
The discipline of quality and patient safety is a vitally important one in the world of health care. Every year, more than 7 million patients in the U.S. experience preventable medical errors, and preventable adverse events lead to an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 hospital deaths annually, surpassing the number of deaths attributed to motor vehicle accidents.* The new Saleh Shenaq, MD and Salwa Shenaq, MD Chair in Health Care Quality & Patient Safety bequeathed by Salwa will have a significant impact on the trajectory of quality control at Houston Methodist.
A Palestinian refugee from a large family, Salwa had always strived for perfection as a way of standing out. She ranked No. 1 among female students who took the high school graduation exit exam with her in Jordan, and it was this dedication that led to her acceptance into medical school at Cairo University.
Houston Methodist Hospital ranks as the No. 1 hospital in Texas for patient care and quality
When Salwa moved to Houston to pursue residency in anesthesiology and a fellowship in cardiovascular anesthesia, she was introduced to her future husband, Dr. Saleh Shenaq. Saleh was a plastic surgeon and an early pioneer in microsurgery who also took a position at Houston Methodist, eventually serving as chief of plastic surgery.
Salwa’s career path had its challenges. In the 1970s, not many women became doctors and even fewer held such high-level positions. “Her ability to do well under difficult life circumstances contributed to her ability to get patients through high-risk cardiac surgeries without complications,” says Farris.
These traits would come into particular focus when Salwa became the patient herself. While being treated for gastric cancer, she was quick to point out best-practice reminders to her care team and share all the wisdom of experience she had accumulated over her long career. Today, Houston Methodist Hospital’s ranking as the No. 1 hospital in Texas for patient care and quality reflects the tireless work of thousands of health care professionals like Dr. Salwa Shenaq, for whom quality patient care is a driving force.
Farris expresses pride when he describes the importance of the new chair named in honor of his parents. He knows that providing the resources necessary to empower more health care quality heroes will go even further in helping Houston Methodist in its quest to continue leading medicine.
*National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health
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