about me

The story of my life is the confluence of my combined experience as an Urologist, a Kidney Transplant Surgeon, Robotic Surgery Specialist, Medical Educationist, Innovator and Healthcare Administrator.

The story of my life is a combination of my experience as a Clinician, Medical Educationist, Healthcare Professional, and in the Practice of Robotic Surgery, Education and Research. I have credentials of Robotic technology innovator and entrepreneur. Geographically, my career of 5 decades extends across the globe in general, particularly within emerging economies.

The current abode of my journey is Detroit, Michigan. Since moving here in 2006, I have been working at the Henry Ford Hospital Vattikuti Urology Institute (VUI), and for the Vattikuti Foundation. Moving to the United States was a major career pivot, and would not have been possible without the initiative and unstinted support of my friend and mentor Mani Menon, the pioneering robotic surgeon and internationally recognized Urologist. I have been working in the field of robotic surgery, education, research, innovation, entrepreneurship and its dissemination. My stay in the United States has enriched my experience of building powerful databases. Robosurg, at Henry Ford Hospital contains the largest single center robotic surgery database, consisting of 10,000 patients of Robotic Radical Prostatectomy operated on at the VUI. In addition, in my role at the Vattikuti Foundation, we are managing a multi institutional global database of several distinct robotic surgery procedures. Dissemination of robotic surgery technology information beyond the most-familiar da Vinci Surgical System is now a major program of the Foundation. We have established a powerful global network of institutions located in United States, United Kingdom, Belgium and India.

The Vattikuti Foundation (VF) started its India initiative 7 years ago, and established cost effective robotic surgery from scratch, with a plan specifically designed to succeed there. Now, India has a vibrant robotic program with ~70 installations performing 8000 multi specialty robotic procedures per year. The VF invested in training ~ 300 robotic surgeons with the help of ~ 100 experts robotic surgeons, which we brought to India from across the globe. Fellowships have been provided to high-achieving young surgeons, pairing them with top robotic surgeons for a year of intensive robotic surgery training and research.

My ongoing life and professional journey is a continuum of learning and teaching. I can distinctively divide my career into my life in India for 47 years, and then my rediscovery in the United States in 2006. All the while, I pursued the same objectives of advancing the fields of Urology, Kidney Transplantation, Medical Education and Healthcare Management. My continuing educational experience while in the US includes the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan; Harvard University for higher learning in Biostatistics; and Stanford, studying the fundamentals of Economics. These courses added new dimensions of strategic thinking and entrepreneurship to my domain knowledge of Medicine. This quest for knowledge has forever changed my outlook as a long time teacher and as a practitioner of Medicine.

In India, I actively pursued my professional career in different sub specialties of Urology and Kidney Transplantation at six premier medical institutions. I became the Chairman at four of these. I had the opportunity to serve as the Vice Chancellor of King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, India’s premier medical institution, with a history of over 100 years. I was the Director of Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute, Lucknow for two consecutive terms in the formative years of the Institution. My most exciting contribution to the State of Uttar Pradesh was to establish the state’s first Kidney Transplant Program. Incidentally, it was the first program of India to have started with cadaveric transplantation and continues to be the leading transplant program in India. I was called to establish

Med Varsity, India’s first virtual medical university at the Apollo Hospitals, in collaboration with NIT. I have trained 75 brilliant urologists and kidney transplant surgeons.

My experience in both India and United States and my in-depth knowledge of these markets has given me the wisdom and understanding of emerging technologies. I recognize the value of exploiting the innovative spirit of the US, and the large patient volumes of the emerging economies such as India.

I had the privilege of serving on the Ethical Committee of the International Transplant Society. My colleagues and I developed the guidelines for Organ Donations now followed all across the globe.

On the academic front, I have learnt my specialties from the best of the best in the world. These include: Management of Urological Cancers at the Karolinska Institute Sweden; Royal Marsden, London; and at the Henry Ford Hospital Detroit; Kidney Transplantation at the University of Heidelberg, Germany; Kidney Stone work at Clinica La Luz in Madrid, and at the Long Island Jewish Hospital, New York. I dedicated myself to a one-year fellowship involving molecular and genetic research in prostate cancer at the University of Florida.

I have had the honor be named the President of prestigious national and international professional societies: Asian Society of Transplantation; Urology Society of India; Telemedicine Society of India, and for the Lucknow Management Association.

On the editorial front, I have 220 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 10 book chapters, and have delivered 250 invited guest lectures. I was the Founding Editor of the Indian Journal of Urology and then Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Journal. I have served as a member of Editorial boards of international journals, including the British Journal of Urology and Archivos Espanoles Urologica.

My efforts have been recognized by the following awards: Dr. B.C. Roy Award for the year 1996; Padma Shri (2000) by the Government of India; and President Award for 2014, by the Indian American Urological Association. I have been included in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History in Washington. The Many Voices, One Nation exhibit portrays the 500-year history of the contributions made by Immigrants to the United States.