19 Facts About Nagarur Gopinath

Nagarur Gopinath was an Indian surgeon and one of the pioneers of cardiothoracic surgery in India.

Nagarur Gopinath is credited with the first successful performance of open heart surgery in India which he performed in 1962.

Nagarur Gopinath served as the honorary surgeon to two Presidents of India and was a recipient of the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri in 1974 and Dr BC Roy Award, the highest Indian medical award in 1978 from the Government of India.

Nagarur Gopinath did his schooling at a local school in Bellary and graduated from the Madras Christian College, Tambaram after which he passed the graduate degree in medicine from the Madras Medical College.

Nagarur Gopinath's career started in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the British India where he worked with renowned cardiologist, Samuel Oram and surgeon, Leigh Collis at Lahore, Pune and Yangon.

Nagarur Gopinath stayed at CMCH till 1964 during which period he set up a research laboratory for open heart surgery programme and conducted over 20 tests on dogs.

Nagarur Gopinath died on 3 June 2007 at the age of 85, survived by his daughter Latha, and two sons, Madhu and Ashok.

Nagarur Gopinath was one of the pioneers of open heart surgery and perfusion in India.

Nagarur Gopinath introduced pioneering methods in rheumatic heart surgery and cardiac pacemaker implantation.

Nagarur Gopinath's efforts have been reported behind the introduction of open heart surgery at AIIMS, New Delhi in 1964 when he established the department of cardiothoracic surgery at the institution.

In 1982, when AIIMS opened the Cardiothoracic Sciences Centre, Nagarur Gopinath became its founder chief.

Nagarur Gopinath's efforts are reported behind the centre receiving two grants, one from the Swedish International Development Agency and the other from the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India.

Nagarur Gopinath's early researches were on the juvenile mitral stenosis, a disease affecting the mitral valve making it shrink, its clinicopathological features and the disease management.

Nagarur Gopinath's researches have been documented by way of several articles, the first one published in 1952 in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, discussing about the advent of thoracic surgery in India.

Nagarur Gopinath was associated with the Indian Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons, serving as its general secretary and president during different tenures and with the Indian National Science Academy as a council member from 1985 to 1987.

Nagarur Gopinath served as a visiting professor at the School of Medicine, Stanford University, USA and kept in touch with some of the notable medical personalities in the world such as Brian Barratt-Boyes, Denton Cooley, Christian Bernard and Donald Ross; some of them visited India on his invitation.

Nagarur Gopinath, who served as the honorary surgeon to two of the presidents of India, received the Rockefeller Foundation fellowship in 1957 which assisted him in his training at the University of Minnesota.

Nagarur Gopinath was a fellow of the National Science Foundation, USA and the Lillehei Surgical Society, USA and an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy, one of the few medical doctors to receive the honour.

Nagarur Gopinath was a professor emeritus of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement awards from Wockhardt and the Association of Cardio Vascular and Thoracic Surgeons of India.