About Me

Hello, my name is Malini Shah.

Biography

I come from a well-educated family in India. My father is a lawyer; my mother is a child psychologist; my sister is a CPA. My husband is also an urgent care physician with Kaiser Permanente. I have 2 kids: my son is a sophomore at Cornell University in New York, and my daughter is a freshman in high school. I was passionate about becoming a physician ever since I was 10 years old. I love to learn new things both within and outside the medical field. I graduated from medical school 25 years ago with a gold medal in surgery from M S University in India, and subsequently was board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. I came to the United States in 1993, and trained in medicine and pediatrics at LAC-USC Medical Center. I have been working in Kaiser Permanente urgent care for the last 15 years. From time to time I also do same-day clinics in the primary care office of family medicine and pediatrics. I volunteer in health fairs locally every year in Orange County and also abroad in India.I love art from painting, to henna art, to knitting, and more. I enjoy the performing arts and encourage my kids to learn, too. I enjoy baking and cook daily healthy meals at home. I go to local Chinese school to learn the concept of acupuncture and Eastern art of healing and go to a chiropractor to learn their philosophy of healing. I also learned some Ayurvedic aspects of healing from my mom, who strongly believed in natural medicine. In my free time I read philosophical books and do meditation. I am open-minded and enjoy learning different aspects of healing, including energy healing.

About my practice

After I finished my training at LAC-USC medical center, I worked for the LAC-USC Emergency Department and Urgent Care, helping the underserved population, along with Kaiser Permanente urgent care. I enjoy seeing a variety of patients in urgent care and the opportunity to make first-hand diagnosis in many cases. Being a gynecologist from India, I look forward to surgical procedures, which I get to do the most in urgent care. We have a very friendly atmosphere where we can share our experiences, learn from each other and get specialist input when necessary.

How I thrive

Because I am in the medical field and know the benefits of healthy living, I practice it daily by cooking my own vegetarian meals, including bread, cookies, and desserts. We as a family almost never eat fast food. I am even careful about which oil is good for what type of cooking, and keep 6 different types of oils at home. I have been practicing yoga since I was a child. I do different exercises on different days, like walking, swimming, and bicycling. I am a great promoter of "no soda and no juices" for all of my patients, especially pediatric patients, to avoid obesity-related problems. In spite of the fact that I don't see the same patients from time to time, I share different ways to lose weight with different populations and get a feedback from them. I am a believer of the "Live and Let Live" philosophy, follow veganism, and teach Jain religion to 8th grade students in Jain temple in Sunday school. Whenever I have the opportunity I attend meditation camps and learn different techniques.