Gastroenterologist Dr T.S. Chandrasekar honoured with International Service Award 2022 in San Deigo

Dr T.S. Chandrasekar (TSC) obtained his fellowship in Gastroenterology from PGI, Chandigarh, India, in 1985, when advanced GI Endoscopy was in its infancy and training centers were few.

He soaked up new skills and knowledge in Germany, the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands as an observer, and the exposure to ASGE learning center videos helped him upskill himself to perform a wide range of advanced Upper and Lower GI endoscopic procedures, ERCP and subsequently POEM and other Third space Endoscopy procedures. He published several innovative techniques in GI Endoscopy in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr Chandrasekar established a new Department of Gastroenterology at Coimbatore Medical College, India, and later MedIndia Hospitals, a Digestive Diseases Institution affiliated to the state Medical University, Chennai. He also started an Advanced Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program in GI Endoscopy at the same university in 2011 for equipping the freshly minted young gastroenterologists with advanced skills in GI Endoscopy. Furthermore, out of a passion for teaching, he created fourteen Teaching CD-ROMs in GI Endoscopy and presented them to many Medical Colleges in India and abroad.

Further, Dr TSC, as the President of the Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy of India (SGEI), organized international medical conferences and brought the ASGE Learning Centre to his city and state. The ASGE meetings are said to have inspired him to continually update as a student and propagate the advances in GI Endoscopy as a leader. Dr TSC mentored over 750 national and international fellows who are now leaders in GI Endoscopy in their respective countries.

As an International Committee Member of the ASGE, he was part of the scientific program committee for the ASGE- SGEI Joint Symposium of DDW since 2017 and as a Speaker twice In addition, he has organized several international webinars in GI Endoscopy endorsed by ASGE, during this pandemic. The ASGE ethos of charity kindled him to initiate a Trust in 2006, and he organized 'Free Endoscopy Cancer Screening Programs' and advanced endo therapy to the needy periodically.

While accepting the award, he stated, " the International Service Award from the ASGE, an organization of 80 years standing with over 14,000 members, is prestigious and adds responsibility to me to pass on the mission of the ASGE to the next generation. I am humbled and immensely grateful to the ASGE." He is the first from Tamil Nadu and the fourth in the country to receive the award reports The Hindu.