Rod Vafaei grew up on B.C.’s beautiful North Shore and acquired numerous nicknames from his rugby days including Hot Rod, the Persian Rifle, and… less savoury ones that only his therapist has heard about. After perfecting the delicate art of being the class clown and clamming up whenever his crush walked by in high school, Rod set his eyes to UBC for a degree in Microbiology and Immunology. During undergrad, Rod’s career likely peaked when he invented a new dance move called the “flagella” which involved exactly as much arm movement as you would imagine. Then, after spending three years financially recovering from his undergraduate degree, Rod decided he missed the mental and financial strain of education and moved to Calgary to complete a Masters of Biomedical Technologies. There he learned the true meaning of resilience, what an “EBITDA” is, and how to survive sub -30ºC weather. With a taste of real Canadian winters fresh in his memory, Rod quickly returned home to complete his MD. Now at the cusp of spending the next five years training to be an Emergency Physician, Rod is excited to bond with his new co-residents, explore Victoria, and learn how to balance effective and conscientious patient care with efficiency.
When he is not in the hospital, you can find Rod at the local coffee shop pretending to read a book (if you look closely, it’s often upside-down), hiking a local trail, or lifting in the gym. If you want to trap yourself in a two-hour conversation, ask Rod about his thoughts on various coffee brewing techniques.