Sivaramakrishna Iyer Padmavati, the first Indian Cardiologist, was born on June 20, 1917, in Burma (Myanmar) and died on August 29, 2020. She was a director of the National Heart Institute, Delhi, and was the founding president of the All India Heart Foundation. Padmavati was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1992, India's second-highest civilian honor. Padmavati was an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, also was the first woman cardiologist in India and established the first cardiac clinic and cardiac catheter lab in India.
About:
Padmavati was born on 20 June 1917 at a barrister in Burma (Myanmar). She had three brothers and two sisters.
She received her MBBS degree from Rangoon Medical College, Rangoon and later moved to London in 1949, where she received FRCP from the Royal College of Physicians, followed by FRCE from the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. During her time in the United Kingdom, she worked at the National Heart Hospital, National Chest Hospital and National Hospital, Queen Square, London.
Subsequently, after finishing the FRCP, she moved to Sweden for three months, where she took a cardiology course at Southern Hospital. Meanwhile, she applied for and was selected for a fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, a part of Johns Hopkins University, and went on to study with a well-known cardiologist Helen Taussig. In 1952, she enrolled at Harvard Medical School (Harvard University), where she studied under Paul Dudley White, a pioneer in modern cardiology.
Her Career:
Back in India, she started her career as a lecturer in 1953 at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi, where she opened a cardiology clinic. In 1954, she was among the first few female cardiologists in India, later as an examiner with the Medical Council of India, starting her first DM in cardiology in India. She founded the All India Heart Foundation (AIHF) in 1962 with a group of physicians and industrialist Ashok Jain of Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited.
She joined Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi in 1967 and was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in the same year. At Pant Hospital she established one of the first departments of cardiology, which is within the college campus. She was the General Secretary of the 5th World Congress of Cardiology, New Delhi in 1966.
During the 1970s, she was the Chief Administrator of 3 major institutions at the same time - Maulana Azad Medical College, Lok Nayak Hospital, and GB Pant Hospital. She got retired as Director (Principal) of Maulana Azad Medical College in 1978.
After retirement, she established the National Heart Institute (NHI) in 1981 under the AIHF in South Delhi, which expanded in subsequent years, including tertiary patient care, research, and population growth, and where she continued to work. She was also Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Cardiology, University of Delhi.
Padmavati became a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) at the age of 90 in 2007, making her the most senior fellow of the ESC.
Awards Received:
Dr. SI Padmavati received two awards during her lifetime:
• India's third highest civilian honor (1967) - Padma Bhushan
• India's second-highest civilian honor (1992) - Padma Vibhushan
The death:
On 29 August 2020, Padmavati died of COVID-19 at the National Heart Institute (NHI) in New Delhi.
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