Dr Marthanda Varma Sankaran Valiathan, National Research Professor of India and well known cardiovascular surgeon with a number of national and international accolades to his credit is no more. He breathed his last late Wednesday evening. The 90-year-old doctor was ailing for sometime and was the founder chancellor of Manipal University.
Prof Valiathan who hailed from the Royal Family of Mavelikkara, had his medical education at Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College from where he had his MBBS (1951-1956), Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh and Masters Degree in Surgery from University of Liverpool. He received advanced training in surgery from John Hopkins School of Medicine, George Washington and Georgetown University Hospitals in the US.
After returning to India, he worked at PGIMER, Chandigarh when the then chief minister of Kerala C Achutha Menon requested him to set up a specialty hospital at Thiruvananthapuram for the benefit of poor and downtrodden people. Prof Valiathan is the founder of Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences at Thiruvananthapuram, a multi-disciplinary hospital and research center where he led a team of doctors and scientists to develop heart valves for patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases. SCTIMS reached its peak during the tenure of Prof Valiathan and established itself as an internationally reputed institute for cardio vascular treatment.
After resigning from SCTIMS, he joined as Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University where he was in service till 1999. Though he retired in 1999, Prof Valiathan continued to lead and guide research teams in bioinformatics, western medicine and the Indian system of knowledge including Ayurveda.
The professor was honored with Padma Vibhushan (2005), Padma Shri (2002), Dr B C Roy National Award, the Hunterian Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Chevalier of the Order of Palmes from France, and the Dr Samuel P Asper Award from John Hopkins University.
He also wrote the three volume “Legacy of Caraka, Sushrutha and Vagbhata, the Holy trinity of Ayurveda. It was Dr Valiathan as the National Research Professor of India who played a major role in elevating Ayurveda to the international arena.
