YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARDS GRANTORS

IN MEMORIUM KRISHNA RAMASWAMY

It is with deep sorrow AACIO announces the death of Dr. K. Ramaswamy on July 14th, 2001. Dr. Ramaswamy was an active member of AACIO and was its past President, and vigorously participated in the affairs of the association. His was a frequent presence in the Continuous Medical Education programs in India and other countries, and his erudition will be sorely missed.

Dr. Ramaswamy graduated from Ahmedabad Medical College, Gujerat and did his post-graduate training in cardiology in Cincinnati, Ohio and Boston, Mass. He was on the staff of St. Elizabeth Hospital, Boston and practiced Interventional Cardiology since 1971.

He was considered a pillar of the Indian community in Boston, and took at leading roll in many of their projects. He was known to reach out generously to anyone in time of need. The Association offers condolences to his wife, Ranjini, and sons Sridhar (physician in Boston) and Jaikumar (New York).

Published in the October 2001 AACIO Newsletter.

IN MEMORIUM MADHUKAR M. DESHMUKH (1929 – 2003)

The death occurred on January 21, 2003, of Dr. Madhukar M. Deshmukh, following a stroke sustained nine days earlier. Dr. Deshmukh had served the AACIO as Editor of its newsletter for the past several years and had been active in the Association in various roles, including that of its President, since its inception about a quarter of a century ago. As member of the Executive Committee, he provided stability and solid guidance to younger members with wise advice and prudent counsel. Madhukar had ably and meticulously shouldered the burden of editorial duties on the AACIO Newsletter, which are more onerous than might be surmised considering the small size of the publication. As a regular contributor to the Newsletter, I was in touch with Madhukar frequently and have been grateful for his unfailing courtesy, appreciation and interest in the material sent to him.

Dr. Deshmukh obtained his B.S. and M.B.B.S. degrees in 1950 and 1955 respecitvely, both from the University of Nagpur, India. He proceeded to the U.S.A. in 1956 and did a Cardiology Fellowship at the Hahneman Medical College Hospital, Philadelphia (1957-59). His next move was to the U. K. where he did senior house officer posts and passed the M.R.C.P. (Edinburgh) in1961. He then returned to India and was Assistant Honorary Physician at the KEM Hospital and Assistant Professor of Medicine, cardiologist to the Cardiothoracic Surgical team headed by Professor P .K. Sen. Here Madhukar met his wife Sheila who was a radiology member of the team. After five years at KEM Hospital, Madhukar and Sheila headed west to Hammersmith Hospital, London and then Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, to pursue a special interest in congenital heart disease.

Back to the U.S.A., Madhukar worked at the St. Barnabas Hospital, Bronx, New York as Director of the Intensive care unit (1971-1982) and he was chief of Cardiology (1980-1983). From 1983 to 2000 he was consultant in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, Health Insurance Plan of New York. In 2000 he returned to academic cardiology with a faculty appointment at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, N.Y. He loved teaching housestaff and students and did it very well.

Dr. Deshmukh had boards in Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Critical Care. He was a member of numerous medical societies. Besides the Fellowships of the American College of Cardiology, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the American College of Chest Physicians and Council on Geriatric Cardiology, he was a member of the Clinical Council of the American Heart Association, the Heart Failure Society, the Critical Care Society of North America and the American Society of Echocardiography. He was a recipient of the C. L. Jhaveri Prize of the Bombay branch of the Indian Medical Association.

Madhukar was a man of considerable intellect and wide culture, with a broad knowledge of English and Indian literature and a deep fondness for Indian as well as Western classical music. His patients, his present and past colleagues have spoken very highly of his professional abilities, his proficiency as a teacher of clinical cardiology, and warm human qualities that endeared him to all who came to know him well. He was a thorough gentleman and a fine physician in every sense of those words. He is mourned by his wife Dr. Sheila, his son Dr. Ravi a general and vascular surgeon in Chicago, his daughter-in-law Beena and his granddaughters, Mika and Priya.

One of his patients commented “Dr. Deshmukh was not only a fantastic cardiologist, but he was a wonderful human being. He had the right specialty, he had a heart. I cannot express in words how wonderful this man made a patient feel. After leaving his office you felt like you just left a very good friend.”

Madhukar will be missed by all the membership of the AACIO, but the loss will be felt most sharply by us, the seniors of the Association, who shall no longer have his genial yet thoughtful presence beside us at future meetings, who can no longer pick up the phone to ask Madhu what he thinks of some current issue.

Written by Dr. Ivan D’Cruz and published in the March 2003 AACIO Newsletter.

AACIO Honoree

Dr. Kishore Harjai, MD is an interventional structural cardiologist who serves as Division Director of Cardiology at Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO. He is originally from Mumbai, India where he completed his Medical School and Internal Medicine Residency at Seth G.S. Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital.

He moved to the US in 1991. He trained in Cardiology at Ochsner Clinic, New Orleans, LA; Interventional Cardiology at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI; and Structural Interventional Cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, NY. He obtained a masters in medical management degree at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, PA in 2011. His clinical interests include PCI, TAVR, MitraClip, ASD/PFO closure.

He has co-authored over 250 manuscripts and abstract presentations and Chaired Sessions at multiple National and International Professional Society meetings. He recently received the Harlene and Marvin Wool Endowed Professorship by Saint Louis University. He previously served as Medical Director of Cardiac Cath Labs, Co-Chair of the Cardiovascular Center of Excellence and on the Board of Directors at Guthrie Clinic, Pennsylvania. Following the completion of Structural Interventional Fellowship, he served as Medical Director, Structural Heart Intervention at Geisinger Clinic, Northeast. He believes that clinical excellence can be defined on 5 values ‘CARES’. This acronym stands for Complex clinical care, Attitudes of professionalism, dialogue, Reach out to patients, Efficiency, and Stability of our talent pool. During his leisure time, he likes to hike, work out, read non- fiction, ski with his sons Neil and Kavish, and travel with his wife, Laurinda. AACIO is most proud to honor Dr. Kishore Harjai for is outstanding accomplishments in Cardiology.

Published in the November 2022 AACIO Newsletter

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Kishore J. Harjai Family Award

Kishore J. Harjai, MD, MMM, FACC, FSCAI, is an interventional and structural cardiologist, physician executive, researcher, and educator with more than 25 years of clinical and leadership experience across academic medical centers, community hospitals, and integrated health systems.

Dr. Harjai has led and expanded cardiovascular programs across multiple hospitals, recruited and developed physician teams, integrated academic and community practices, and partnered with senior executives and governing boards on strategy, quality, growth, and organizational transformation. He earned a Master of Medical Management from Carnegie Mellon University and has held senior leadership positions in both academic medicine and health systems. He has mentored hundreds of trainees, many of whom have gone on to assume leadership roles.

His clinical interests include coronary intervention, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, transcatheter mitral valve repair, left atrial appendage occlusion, and percutaneous closure of atrial septal defects and patent foramen ovale. He has co-authored more than 250 manuscripts and scientific abstracts, which have received over 8,000 scholarly citations. In November 2022, the American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin honored him with a special award recognizing his outstanding contributions to the field of cardiology.

Dr. Harjai is currently focused on building collaborative systems of clinical excellence, advancing healthcare toward greater reliability, and developing the next generation of physician leaders.

He can be reached at kharjai419@gmail.com.