Advancing Kentucky Together: Avinash Bhakta’s care for Kentuckians
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 13, 2025) — Coming from a hardworking family, Avinash S. Bhakta, M.D., originally didn’t plan to become a doctor, but providing care is his passion.
While in college, Bhakta volunteered at hospitals and learned about the humanitarian side of medicine. Now, Bhakta is a colorectal surgeon at the UK Markey Cancer Center, an associate professor in the Department of Surgery in the UK College of Medicine, and the Lexington VA Cancer Program director.
Bhakta treats many patients who are from Eastern Kentucky and has an outreach program with other physicians across Appalachia.
He emphasizes the connection he has with his patients, treating them as he would treat a neighbor.
This year’s institutional TV commercial focuses on the people across campus — and our Commonwealth — who put in the work to advance Kentucky day and night, just like Bhakta. They all reflect our mission to teach, care, serve and discover.
Bhakta and other members of our community — who are also working to help improve the state we all serve — shared their voices for both the 30-second and 60-second spots. While we hear only a few seconds from each of them, they have powerful stories to tell.
UKNow asked Bhakta a few questions about what it means to be part of the UK community — and of a legacy — of people who are working to advance Kentucky.
Read the Q&A below.
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UKNow: What makes the University of Kentucky special?
Bhakta: UK represents the people of our Commonwealth. It is diverse, it represents the hard work that make up the fiber of our great state, it is resilient and it is inseparable from our entire state. Other institutions represent only a small portion of their community, but UK represents an entire state, an entire people from newborns up.
UKNow: What does “advancing Kentucky” mean to you?
Bhakta: Advancing Kentucky means providing top-tier care for all of our individuals afflicted with cancer.
UKNow: How has your time at UK helped you be part of UK’s mission to advance Kentucky?
Bhakta: Being at UK has allowed me the opportunity to care for individuals from all parts of the state. Being at the university has afforded me the opportunity to collaborate with scientists who share the same mission as I do: eradicate the high incidence of cancer that affects our constituents.
UKNow: What is your hope for UK’s next 160 years?
Bhakta: My hope and my passion are that we continue to represent the individuals of our Commonwealth, their needs and their hopes. I believe right now that the people share the same hope that I do, which is to help reduce the cancer burden that affects us at a higher incidence than other states.
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As we look forward to UK celebrating its 160th birthday, UKNow is sharing more about these members of our community and what inspires them to do more and be more for the people of Kentucky.
You can learn more about their stories here.
UK HealthCare is the hospitals and clinics of the University of Kentucky. But it is so much more. It is more than 10,000 dedicated health care professionals committed to providing advanced subspecialty care for the most critically injured and ill patients from the Commonwealth and beyond. It also is the home of the state’s only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for the tiniest and sickest newborns, the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and Kentucky’s top hospital ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
As an academic research institution, we are continuously pursuing the next generation of cures, treatments, protocols and policies. Our discoveries have the potential to change what’s medically possible within our lifetimes. Our educators and thought leaders are transforming the health care landscape as our six health professions colleges teach the next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals, spreading the highest standards of care. UK HealthCare is the power of advanced medicine committed to creating a healthier Kentucky, now and for generations to come.