Pioneering Cardiac Surgeon, Former AIIMS Director Dr Panangipalli Venugopal passes away at 82
New Delhi: Padma Bhushan awardee, renowned cardiovascular surgeon and former director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, Dr Panangipalli Venugopal, who is widely recognised as a pioneer in cardiac surgery is no more.
Dr P Venugopal passed away on Wednesday at the age of 82. His cremation will be held on the afternoon of October 9, 2024, at the Lodhi Road Crematorium. He will be fondly remembered by patients, families, and medical professionals whose lives he impacted throughout his illustrious career.
Over his career, he performed 50,000 open heart surgeries and 12,000 closed heart surgeries. He conducted the country's first-ever heart transplant at AIIMS, New Delhi. In 1998, the Government honoured him with the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award, for his services to Medicine.
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Dr Venugopal was born in Rajahmundry, Madras Presidency on 6 July 1942. He completed his MBBS, Master of Surgery (MS) and MCh in cardiovascular thoracic surgery from AIIMS New Delhi.
In 1970–1971, he joined the faculty at AIIMS, where he spent the majority of his career. He advanced through the ranks, serving as a professor, head of the department, and dean, before becoming director on July 1, 2003.
Soon after joining AIIMS, Venugopal participated in two advanced training programs, an adult Open Heart Surgery training under Denton Cooley at the Texas Heart Institute and paediatric open heart surgery under S. Subramanian, at the Children's Hospital, Buffalo, New York following which he launched the open heart surgery clinic at AIIMS, under the guidance of Professor N. Gopinath, in 1974.
Dr Venugopal received numerous awards for his skills and expertise in the field of cardiovascular including the Dr. B. C. Roy Award, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Lifetime Award for service of humanity, the Sivananda Eminent Citizen Award, the Indira Priyadarsini Award, Goyal Prize, Vijay Ratna Award.
As per an ANI news agency report, Dr Venugopal, along with his wife Priya Sarkar, had recently published his memoir titled Heartfelt: A Cardiac Surgeon's Pioneering Journey, which was released on July 7 this year.
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