Raman Viswanathan | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1899-09-08)8 September 1899 |
| Died | 14 July 1982(1982-07-14) (aged 82) |
| Occupation(s) | Pulmonologist Physician Medicalmycologist |
| Known for | Chest diseases |
| Spouse | Sharda |
| Children | A son and a daughter |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan NAS Eugeno Morelli Prize Forlanini Medal INSA Dhanwantari Prize |
Raman Viswanathan (8 September 1899 – 14 July 1982) was an Indian chest physician, medicalmycologist andpulmonologist, considered by many as the father of Chest Medicine in India.[1][2][3] He was the founder director ofVallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, a postgraduate medical institute based in Delhi. An elected fellow of theAmerican College of Chest Physicians,Royal College of Physicians of London,[4]Indian National Science Academy and theAcademy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom, he was a recipient of several honors including theForlanini Medal by Italian Tuberculosis Association and theEugeno Morelli Prize of theNational Academy of Sciences, Italy.[5] The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of thePadma Bhushan, in 1974, for his contributions to medicine.[6]
R. Viswanathan was born on 8 September 1899 inNagarcoil, in the southern tip of India in the state ofTamil Nadu to a government official in the erstwhileTravancore state as the youngest of his two children.[7] After losing his mother at the age of nine, he stayed with his elder sister's family and did his schooling in Nagarcoil. Later, he secured his graduate degree with honours in Science and English literature from the Maharaja's College (present-dayUniversity College Thiruvananthapuram) of theUniversity of Madras in 1921 after which he graduated in medicine fromMadras Medical College in 1926.[3] Continuing at the same institution, he passed MD in 1931 and became a member of theRoyal College of Physicians of London, the next year.[8] During this period, he also worked as an Assistant Professor of Medicine atMadras Medical College but moved toAndhra Medical College,Visakhapatnam in 1934 as the Professor of Clinical Medicine, where he worked till 1941. In between, he took a hiatus from work and obtainedDiploma in Tuberculosis Diseases (TDD) fromCardiff University School of Medicine, Wales, UK, in 1938.[3] WhenWorld War II broke out, he joinedIndian Armed Forces in 1942 as an Officer-Commanding of the Medical Division and served as a Medical Specialist and adviser.[7] After the war, he retired from the Army and joined theUnion Government and worked in various capacities such as an adviser on Tuberculosis (1946–48) and as the Deputy Director General of Health Services (1948–57).[8] He was also associated with theUniversity of Delhi during this period, as the head of the Department of Medicine and as the Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences.[7]
During his tenure with the Government of India, Viswanathan was appointed as the director ofVallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute (VPCI) when the institution was established in 1953.[1] He served as the honorary director till 1957 and continued as a full-time director till his superannuation in 1964.[7] Post his regular career, he was made the Honorary Professor of VPCI and the Emeritus Scientist of theCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and held both the posts till his death, involving himself in research, in post graduate medical education, in organizing medical conferences or delivering keynote addresses at various conferences in India and abroad. He also served as the Honorary Research Director cum Consultant at theRajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna and as a visiting professor at theUniversity of Illinois (1958) and theUniversity of Chicago, (1964).[7]
Dr. Viswanathan was first married to Parvathi, a homemaker, and then to Dr. Sharada, a gynaecologist at the Government Hospital, Delhi. Dr. Viswanathan has two children from his first marriage to Parvathi; his son, Prof. V. Raman, who was an Environmental Engineering scientist and the daughter, V. Kamla, a homemaker.[7] He died on 14 July 1982, at the age of 82.[5]
Viswanathan was involved in the establishment of several medical organizations. He was among the group of medical professionals who founded theNational Academy of Medical Sciences in 1961.[4] He was the founder president of the Association of Chest Physicians of India and stayed at the post till its reorganization in 1981. He was one of the founders of the Asthma and Bronchitis Foundation of India and was its president since its inception. He also served as the president of many national and international conferences including the 8thNational Congress of Diseases of the Chest (1963), theConference of the Association of Physicians of India (1968), theNational Tuberculosis Conference (1968) and theWorld Congress on Asthma, Bronchitis and Allied Conditions (1974).[4] He was also involved with the activities of theTuberculosis Association of India as a member of its various committees,[4] and was the leader of the USAID Exchange Program of 1953 as well as the Indian Regent ofAmerican College of Chest Physicians during 1957–58 when he was entrusted with the investigation of infectioushepatitis in Delhi.[3]
Viswanathan was credited with pioneering research in bronchopulmonary diseases and was reported to be the first researcher to proposetropical eosinophilia as a distinct clinical entity in 1936.[5] His studies of autopsy reports of the patients died of tropical eosinophilia helped to define the pathology of the disease for the first time and establishedpositive leucocyte adhesion phenomenon with M. bancrofit. He developed a novelbronchography technique and made innovations intomography procedures.[7] His researches also covered several other diseases such ascerebral malaria, basaltuberculosis, lungatelectasis,bronchiectasis,emphysema,bagassosis,byssinosis, and high altitudepulmonary oedema, among others.[7] He published seven books[4] which includedPulmonary Tuberculosis,[9]Diseases of the Chest,[10]Medical Problems of Old Age[11] and more than 230 medical articles in peer reviewed journals,Epidemiology,[12]Infectious hepatitis in Delhi (1955-56): a critical study-epidemiology[13] andA review of the literature on the epidemiology of infectious hepatitis[14] being some of the notable ones; his articles and books have been cited in several medical journals and text books, too.[15][16][17] He also founded a medical journal, theIndian Journal of Chest Diseases and Allied Sciences (IJCDAS) in 1959 as the publishing arm ofVallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute.[7]
Viswanathan, a founder fellow of theNational Academy of Medical Sciences (1964)[18] and an honorary physician to the President of India,[4] was an elected fellow of theIndian National Science Academy (1968), National College of Chest Physicians (India),Royal College of Physicians of London (1980),American College of Chest Physicians (1947) andAcademy of Medical Sciences.[5][7] He was a member of such medical societies asAmerican Thoracic Society, theBritish Thoracic Society, Indian Association of Pathologists, Associations of Physicians of India andIndian Medical Association.[7] TheNational Academy of Sciences, Italy awarded him the Eugeno Morelli Prize in 1969 and the Italian Tuberculosis Association followed suit with its Forlanini Medal.[5] He received the Dhanwanthari Prize of the Indian National Science Academy in 1971.[7] Three years later, the Government of India included him the 1974Republic Day Honours list for the third highest civilian award of thePadma Bhushan.[6]
After his death in 1982,Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute renamed the main hospital complex asViswanathan Chest Hospital in honor of its founder director.[19] National Conference on Pulmonary Diseases (NAPCON) has instituted an annual oration,Prof. Raman Viswanathan Memorial Chest Oration, in his honor; the 2015 lecture was delivered by notedpulmonologist, S. K. Katiyar.[20]Candida viswanathii, ayeast species and a commonpathogen causing fungal infections, is named after him.[4][7][21] His life has been documented in his autobiography,While the Light Lives - Reminiscences of a Medical Scientist,[22] as well as in an article,Dr. R. Viswanathan : a profile, published in theIndian Journal of Chest Disease and Allied Science, the official journal ofVallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute and the National College of Chest Physicians.[23]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
