A Lifelong Calling to Benevolent Care

Dr. Devashis Mitra

Rheumatology, Central Florida Health Care

People might vaguely understand Central Florida Health Care’s mission to provide care for all, but it takes getting to know renowned medical experts like Dr. Devashis Mitra, architect of CFHC’s rheumatology department, to understand how a personal passion for the work truly puts patients at the center of their mission.

He could be focused on a care-free (and well-deserved) chapter called retirement with his wife Neelam after a career that included: six and a half years of training at the world-famous Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath, England­—where he earned a PhD in rheumatology—a leading academic role at the Medical University of South Carolina and an extremely successful run of 24 years at his private practice in Pittsburgh that he had grown to 20,000+ patients. Instead, he is fueled to see all people find help and healing in the local community, something that beckons him back to growing up in Central India where he attended medical school and worked in a state-run hospital.

Dr. Mitra’s uncle was a physician, and he vividly remembers the day he saw a stethoscope swinging from his hands.  

“He put it in my ear and he put it on his chest, and I would listen to his heartbeat and I was fascinated,” he recalls. “And then, when I was in kindergarten the principal asked me my name and I said, ‘Dr. Mitra,’ and he started laughing and said, ‘I want to see if you keep saying that over the years,’ and that never changed.”

He originally saw himself becoming a cardiologist, but that shifted when he spent three months with a former classmate of his uncle’s, Dr. Joshi, who at the time was only one of four rheumatologists in all of India. He spent as many as 15 hours a day shadowing Dr. Joshi, soaking up all he could about musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases. After a year, Dr. Joshi told him the natural next step would be attending the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, an institution that has pioneered rheumatology since 1739 and ended up cementing Dr. Mitra’s career path. 

He recalls that part of the “beauty of that training” was how people from all over the world came together to learn everything from clinical medicine to laboratory research to physical therapy, x-rays, orthotics and more.

“In India I [had] learned clinical rheumatology, and we would see patients, treat them and they would go home,” he says. “But now I knew how to write a prescription for physical therapy…and tell a therapist what I wanted for my patient or I could explain the design I wanted for orthotics (custom shoes, inserts, splints and braces.)”

Nearly four decades later, life circumstances and the desire for a change gave Dr. Mitra the opportunity to put years of research, patient outcomes, training, etc. into practice in a way that he believes God led him to.

After making the decision to close his practice in Pittsburgh, Dr. Mitra and Neelam went to India to spend time with her ailing mother. Twelve days into their visit she passed away peacefully.

“We laughed, we joked and she was in absolutely fantastic spirits, and then one morning she just left us. I was a little bit at a loss of what to do, and I started looking for part-time opportunities and one of the individuals who connected with me was from Pittsburgh, (Chief Human Resources Officer) Philip Kenney from Central Florida Health Care.”

Dr. Mitra connected deeply with CFHC’s mission, he saw the dedication and purpose-driven environment cultivated by leadership and he and his wife already had a vacation home in Parrish, just 45 minutes from Mulberry and South Lakeland.

“It seemed like a win-win situation, and I’m ecstatic about what Central Florida Health Care does,” he says.

He mentioned CFHC’s food distribution locations, back-to-school giveaways and numerous affordable or free preventive and primary care services as proof of the mission in action. The nonprofit that was founded in 1972 has also been adding specialties to broaden and improve the scope of its services at 17 health centers across Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties. Included in that is rheumatology, endocrinology, podiatry, optometry and HIV/HEP C Services.

In almost a year of serving the community at CFHC, Dr. Mitra has seen the power of helping people get access to life changing health care in the midst of financial, family and physical challenges. 

He notes that one of the most complex aspects of long-term care isn’t the medicine itself—it’s navigating the maze of insurance billing and the often-inflated costs set by pharmaceutical companies. While Central Florida Health Care treats all patients, regardless of their ability to pay, what follows after a diagnosis or prescription can vary widely.

Sometimes a diagnosis is made or prescription is written and the patient can have their medication provided very inexpensively or for no charge at all at Central Florida Health Care’s pharmacies. Other times, the insurance authorization process can delay a patient getting medicine, but Central Florida Health Care always makes sure that if the first option is denied, the team is quick to prescribe another medication that will work. “There’s only so much Central Florida Health Care can absorb,” he says. 

Dr. Mitra said he brought up that challenge earlier this summer at the Florida Society of Rheumatology Conference in Orlando in a room of professionals where research was being presented about new medications coming to market.

“I actually got up…and said, ‘You guys are coming up with a lot of these new medications and we can’t prescribe them because no insurances are covering the new medication.’ The whole room started chiming in because what’s the point in having a new medication that patients can’t get?”

Dr. Mitra said what gives him hope is that CFHC staff see themselves as patient advocates, and the organization cultivates a culture of collaborative communication that proposes new solutions to ongoing challenges.  

He credits his wife for the many valuable roles she has played for their family over the years that included bearing the majority of the parenting load early on, being an administrator at his private practice, while also managing her own business, a Kumon Math and Reading Center.

Inspired by his vision and commitment, both of his children, Akul and Sana, have elected to pursue careers in medicine, and are currently medical students in Kentucky.

While he envisions a few more adventures with his family and being able to take in a few more sunsets, he is just as compelled to serve more people through affordable and free health care than ever before.

“The goal is to put my head on the pillow at the end of the day with clear conscience and a satisfied smile and say, ‘God thank you. I made it and I did my best, the rest is in your hands.”

“When I was in kindergarten the principal asked me my name and I said, ‘Dr. Mitra,’ and he started laughing and said, ‘I want to see if you keep saying that over the years,’ and that never changed.”