Dr. Khwaja Hussain has always enjoyed the breadth and depth of working in medicine and also enjoys the different relationships he gets to make. “While I love to perform procedures and take care of medically-complex patients, I really enjoy the relationships that you get to build as a physician.”

As a primary care doctor, Dr. Hussain treats adults with all manner of health concerns, from chronic diseases like diabetes to mental health issues such as depression. “Behavioral health is such an important part of medicine now,” he explains. “For instance, if someone is depressed they are probably not going to take their medicine when they need to or they may miss their follow-up appointments. So, as a physician you have to be very mindful of a patient’s mental health when caring for them. Fortunately, we are getting more comfortable treating the mental health issues that patients have using both counseling and medication.”

In his practice at Reliant Dr. Hussain sees a lot of patients who have nutrition-related concerns. “When a patient has a problem with their weight, I will often ask them who does the shopping in the family, who does the cooking? I try to find the person in the household who can make a difference because they can impact the entire family,” he explains. “For instance, if one person in the household has diabetes, chances are other family members need to improve their diet too. It often takes time to bring about positive change but I try to get patients to celebrate the changes they have made and keep moving forward.”

According to Dr. Hussain, many people don’t realize how much sugar they are consuming every day. “Someone may like to have a glass of store-bought iced tea every day at lunch but that ice tea could have eight teaspoons of sugar in it. Just substituting a glass of water with lemon for an ice tea with sugar can make a bigger difference than people think. Eliminating fruit juices and soda can make your diet significantly better. It’s a great first step for people to take. Food is such an important part of our health, but most people don’t realize it. So I always try to educate patients about that.”

In his spare time Dr. Hussain enjoys gardening around his home using native flowers. He also enjoys watching his children participate in sports and traveling together with his family.