Gullapalli Nageswara Rao | |
|---|---|
| Born | Chodavaram, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Occupation | Ophthalmologist |
| Medical career | |
| Institutions | L V Prasad Eye Institute |
| Awards | Padma Shri American Academy of Ophthalmology Honor Award International Blindness Prevention Award AEBA Award 2017 Ophthalmology Hall of Fame |
Gullapalli Nageswara Rao is an Indianophthalmologist, the chairman of the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis (AOI)[1] and the founder of theL. V. Prasad Eye Institute,Hyderabad.[2] A former associate professor at the School of Medicine and Dentistry of theUniversity of Rochester, Rao is a Fellow of theNational Academy of Medical Sciences, India.[2] He was honoured by theGovernment of India, in 2002, with the fourth highestIndian civilian award ofPadma Shri.[3]He was elected in 2017 to theOphthalmology Hall of Fame instituted by theAmerican Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.[4]
At the age of three he was sent to his maternal uncle living in Edupagallu village near toVijayawada.[5] He studied there until his class 8 at a Telugu school.[5] Following his father, who lived in Chennai near famous ophthalmologistGovindappa Venkataswamy (the founder of Aravind Eye Hospital) Rao decided to become an Ophthalmologist.[5]
After completing his MBBS at Guntur Medical College inGuntur, Andhra Pradesh, Rao completed his postgraduate residency training in ophthalmology at theAll India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.[6] He has received the degree ofDoctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from theUniversity of Melbourne, the Honor Award of theAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology, International Blindness Prevention Award from theAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology[2][7] and the AEBA Award from the Association of Eye Bank of Asia. Rao has served the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness as a board member, the secretary general (1998) and the president (2004) on various occasions.[2] Apart from training abroad, he is also serving as visiting professor at several universities in the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia.[6] As of 2020, Rao has published more than 300 papers in peer reviewed national and international journals and has served on the editorial boards of several journals.[6] He has five honorary doctorates from Australia, United Kingdom and India.[8]
