Dr. Roland Njei joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an instructor on July 1, 2019.
Dr. Njei was born in Batibo, North West Region of Cameroon and immigrated to the Chicagoland area in 2006. His journey to medicine was a non-traditional one. After living and working in China for two and a half years, he moved to the United States to pursue his long-held dream of becoming a doctor. He received his undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011, where he graduated with distinction and magna cum laude. He received his MD from the University of Illinois School of Medicine at Chicago in 2016. He completed residency in internal medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University St Louis in 2019.
During residency, Dr. Njei participated in various research projects with a focus in cardiovascular disease. He completed a research project looking at BMI and outcomes in patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices. He was also involved in a cardio-oncology research project looking at incidence of heart failure or cardiomyopathy in patients with metastatic soft tissue sarcoma who are treated with doxorubicin in combination with dexrazoxane. Further evaluation involved looking at echocardiogram parameters of end diastolic and systolic volume, left ventricular ejection fraction to determine if either 3D echocardiogram or ventricular strain is able to serve as an early marker of cardiac dysfunction compared to 2D echocardiogram modified Simpson’s biplane method of left ventricular ejection fraction. He has also published a few case reports in the field of cardiology. Out side of cardiology which is his major interest, he has also completed a research project looking at HIV literacy, HARRT compliance and causes of mortality in Cameroon. The goal of the research project was to help direct policies that will mitigate the still high HARRT noncompliance and mortality rate in Sub-Saharan African. One of his key interests is looking for ways to mitigate the health disparities that exist between racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.
During the last two years of his residency, he chaired the residency community outreach program during which he recruited fellow residents to start bridging some of these disparities in the community of St Louis through health fairs and monthly teaching at Gateway 180 homeless services. Due to his outstanding work and leadership, he was given the Physician Community leadership award. Dr. Njei speaks multiple languages, has a special interest in high value care and plans to pursue a career in Cardiology.