Fascinated with aviation his whole life, Dr. Darren Klass thought he was going to be a pilot or an aeronautical engineer when he grew up. Realizing his math skills weren’t quite up to par, but still wanting to go into a career that featured problem solving at its core, Darren went into medicine. His love for the field kicked in about halfway through medical school, a six-year journey.
“I trained in South Africa. Most students enter directly from high school, at the age of 18, so it’s a very daunting process; dealing with the stress of what was then a traditional medical school curriculum.”
Darren is now inspiring another generation of med students as the Clinical Associate Professor – Interventional Radiologist at the University of British Columbia. He’s also the Medical Head MRI, Division of Interventional Radiology at Vancouver General Hospital. Unsurprising, Darren starts his day at 4:30 am to get in a run before balancing his work schedule.
“I ran almost every day growing up, but it was only coming to Vancouver that rekindled my love for the outdoors, being in the fresh air, alone with my thoughts,” he says. A good routine to begin a day that involves spending the majority of his time with patients. From simple lines that allow patients to have chemotherapy without needles, to treating patients with complicated pathology with his cardiac and vascular surgery team. Darren is grateful that he gets to problem solve each day, helping others.
