Palm Beach Gardens Lving - November 2026

N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6 | PA L M B E A C H G A R D E N S L I V I N G 11 Unlike Dr. Pathak, Dr. Solanki did not immediately know that hospice would become her professional calling. After residency, she worked as a hospitalist at Jupiter Medical Center before eventually finding herself drawn back to hospice and palliative care. She completed her fellowship a year after Dr. Pathak, became an associate medical director, and ultimately transitioned into her current role as Medical Director. Along the way, Trustbridge became much more than an employer for both. “Without Empath or TrustBridge, there would be no me as far as a medical leader or a hospice doctor,” Dr. Pathak explained. He credits the organization with establishing “such a solid bedrock of good, honest clinical care with integrity” and says that foundation serves as both a bedrock and a compass as he navigates his responsibilities. Dr. Solanki describes the relationship in equally personal terms. “The first word that came to mind was home,” she said. “It's sort of this constant in both of our lives.” That sense of home is connected to an environment in which doing the right thing is expected to be part of every decision. “Your baseline is doing the right thing,” Dr. Solanki said. “That's how you lead here. What's the best thing for the patient? What's the best thing for the staff?” Those questions—what is best for the patient and the staff—also provide a window into how the two physicians view medicine itself. Dr. Pathak believes hospice represents medicine at its most fundamental level. “If you want to practice medicine in the way it was intended, in its purest form, then hospice is exactly that,” he explained. He describes the work in similarly straightforward terms. “It's patient care, but centered around making someone feel better. And that's what being a doctor is. That's what medicine is. It's healing.” The work also provides lessons that extend beyond the clinical setting. Hospice physicians meet patients and families during some of the most consequential moments of their lives, requiring an emphasis on communication, relationships, and genuine presence. “It's a field that relies on not just the presence of the doctor, but the touch, the communication, and the relationship between patient and doctor,” Dr. Pathak noted. Those experiences have also influenced how both physicians think about leadership. Solanki’s philosophy centers on leading by example, something she describes through two phrases she repeatedly relies upon: “I wouldn't ask you to do anything that I wouldn't do myself” and “walking the walk.” “When it comes to walking the walk, I need to know clinically what everyone else is doing,” she explained. “I find myself continuing to do clinical despite the majority of my job being administrative because that clinical piece also brings you back down. It actually grounds me.” For Solanki, that connection also extends to how she builds her team. She believes effective leadership begins with putting the right people in the right positions and finding individuals whose values align with the organization's mission. “There's intention when I recruit,” she said. “When I'm recruiting physicians, particularly for our organization, I'm recruiting people who have the same values and align with the mission of this organization.” She also recognizes that leadership is not about finding one ideal type of employee. “Not every person is going to be the perfect person, but each one has a skill that can provide something to the organization.” Pathak’s leadership philosophy has been shaped significantly by his own mentors and by the interdisciplinary teams with whom he worked early in his career.