Rehabilitation Hospital Physicians Announce 2022 Medical Executive Committee

Three area physicians are serving on the North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital Medical Executive Committee for 2022. These officers were appointed by their peers and will serve as liaisons between the medical staff and the North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital Board of Managers.

Serving as chief of staff is Physiatrist Rishi Pathak, M.D. Pathak joined the North Oaks Medical Staff in the fall of 2018. He came to North Oaks from Johns Hopkins Hospital at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was educated as a fellow in spinal cord injury medicine. He earned his medical degree from St. Matthew’s University School of Medicine in the Cayman Islands on Grand Cayman. He then completed an internship in general surgery through Exempla St. Joseph’s in Denver, Colorado, and a residency through Wayne State University, located in Detroit Medical Center at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan.

Members-at-large include Family Medicine Physician H.A. “Rowdy” Valdes, M.D., and Internal Medicine Physician Susan Zacharia, M.D.

Valdes is a graduate of Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans. He carried out an internship and residency through the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. He joined the North Oaks Medical Staff in 1999.

Zacharia earned her medical degree from the Universidad Tecnologica de Santiago in Santo Domingo. She completed an internship and residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. She is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and joined the North Oaks medical staff in 1995.

North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital is the only facility of its kind in a seven-parish area accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). It also is home to one of five CARF-accredited stroke specialty programs in Louisiana.

As of North Oaks Rehabilitation Hospital’s latest re-accreditation survey in April 2019, the hospital continues to rank among the top 3% of 22,000 facilities worldwide surveyed by CARF for receiving no recommendations for improvement.

In addition to stroke patients, those who may benefit from inpatient rehabilitation include
de-conditioned COVID-19 patients and individuals who have experienced a brain injury; surgery for joint replacement or other orthopedic or spinal cord injuries; or diagnosis of a neurological disorder, arthritis or other congenital conditions.

An 8,000 square-foot treatment area, featuring a kitchen and laundry area for patients to practice daily living skills, anchors the hospital. The facility also contains a transitional living apartment, therapeutic garden and aquatic center.