Indian doctor named fellow at Harvard

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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s personal cardiologist is adding to his medical cache by accepting the appointment as the Harvard University’s first Visiting Bernard Lown Professsor of Cardiovascular Health.

Dr. K. Srinath Reddy was recently in Cambridge to receive the honor in acknowledgement of his contribution to cardiovascular health in India, and to carry on Dr. Bernard Lown’s work on the causes and treatment of heart disease and the development of the defibrillator.

Reddy’s responsibility as Lown Fellow is to promote a global cardiovascular health agenda that centers on researching risk factors and finding cost effective preventions. In addition, Reddy said he will place an emphasis on trying to stem future tobacco use. He views his role as one of a health conduit to pass on his knowledge to current and future generations.

Among numerous achievements in his decades-long career in medicine, 78-year-old Reddy is best known for being a man close to Prime Minister Singh’s heart. Few people get the chance to glimpse Singh in as personal a fashion as Reddy.

In early 2009, Singh fell ill and was presented with either having a bypass surgery or a less invasive angioplasty. Reddy was the sole voice of dissent when the rest of Singh’s medical team advised the prime minister to opt for the safer angioplasty procedure.

After Reddy helped Singh weigh the pros and cons of each procedure, the prime minister opted for the more invasive, more permanent health benefits of the bypass, said Reddy. A bold move, but Reddy was not surprised. According to him, Singh is one of the best-read people he knows. The prime minister educated himself about the benefits and hazards regarding each of the procedures.

Reddy said Singh responded with dry humor to the notion of undergoing bypass surgery. “‘On the balance of probability let’s go in for surgery,’” Reddy recalls Singh saying.

Reddy said he was not burdened by any outside opinion when weighing his advice to Singh, highly regarded as one of India’s most beloved men. He held his ground in the face of widespread criticism, from scores of Indian citizens and from within his fellow medical team, about his suggestion of a bypass for the prime minister. The example is a perfect illustration of how holding his ground comes easily to Reddy. His philosophy is a simple one that guides his decisions regarding all of his patients. His cardinal rule is do not give in to popular opinion if it means having to compromise medical expertise.

Reddy describes Singh’s personality as thoughtful with a trademark sense of caring and duty to all of India’s citizens in matters where his status as prime minister comes into play, like having access to India’s best doctors when ill.

The prime minister’s trademark concern emerged during the same 2009 bypass with the first thing he said to Reddy upon coming out of surgery. “‘I hope you are not here leaving other patients,’” Reddy recalls Singh saying.

Although excited about his role as a Harvard Lown Fellow, he only decided to accept the fellowship after the position’s responsibilities were scaled back from full-time to part-time to allow Reddy to remain in India, where he believes he is most needed and says he feels a pull to remain in his native country in order to continue work.

Reddy, a Chennai native, is the president of the Indian Health Foundation of India and headed the department of cardiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences prior to his Lown fellowship appointment. Reddy also sits on the board of the World Heart Federation.

He will continue to reside in New Delhi during his two-year fellowship, and will make several trips to the United States annually, each of two-week duration, he said. Reddy’s next scheduled visit is from late October to mid November.

As part of his visiting professorship Reddy will teach a cardiovascular epidemiology class at Harvard’s School of Public Health.

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