S. I. Padmavati

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Padmavati Sivaramakrishna

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1917|06|20}}

| birth_place = British Burma

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|8|29|1917|6|20|df=yes}}

| death_place = New Delhi, India

| nationality = Indian

| other_names =

| known_for =

| education = F.R.C.P. (London), F.R.C.P.E., F.A.C.C., F.A.M.S., D.Sc. (Hon.)[http://www.nationalheartinstitute.com/spadma.php Dr. S. Padmavati: Chief Consultant In Cardiology] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714155640/http://www.nationalheartinstitute.com/spadma.php |date=14 July 2011 }} NHI website.

| alma_mater = University of Medicine 1, Yangon
Johns Hopkins University
Harvard Medical School

| years_active = 1953–2020

| academic_advisors = Paul Dudley White
Helen B. Taussig

| occupation = cardiologist, Director National Heart Institute, Delhi
Founder-president, All India Heart Foundation

}}

Sivaramakrishna Padmavati (20 June 1917 – 29 August 2020) was an Indian cardiologist. She was director of the National Heart Institute, Delhi, and the founder president of the All India Heart Foundation. The institute collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) in training students in preventive cardiology.[http://doctor.ndtv.com/expert/ndtv/expertid/59/S_Padmavati.html Expert Profile: Dr S Padmavati] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714162011/http://doctor.ndtv.com/expert/ndtv/expertid/59/S_Padmavati.html |date=14 July 2011 }} NDTV.[http://www.whoindia.org/EN/Section54_880.htm WHO Collaborating Centres in India: Non-Communicable Diseases & Mental Health] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612235352/http://whoindia.org/EN/Section54_880.htm |date=12 June 2010 }} WHO India. Padmavati was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in 1992.{{cite web|title=Padma Awards|publisher=Ministry of Communications and Information Technology|url=http://india.gov.in/myindia/padma_awards.php|access-date=13 April 2010|archive-date=10 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710123059/http://india.gov.in/myindia/padma_awards.php|url-status=live}} Padmavati, an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences,{{cite web | url=http://www.nams-india.in/downloads/fellowsmembers/ZZ.pdf | title=List of Fellows — NAMS | publisher=National Academy of Medical Sciences | date=2016 | access-date=19 March 2016 | archive-date=4 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055036/http://nams-india.in/downloads/fellowsmembers/ZZ.pdf | url-status=live }} was the first woman cardiologist in India and established the first cardiac clinic and cardiac catheter lab in India.{{cite news|url=http://www.expresshealthcare.in/200703/healthcarelife01.shtml|title=Feature — Against the Tide: Been there, done that|date=March 2007|publisher=Express Healthcare (Indian Express)|access-date=13 April 2010|archive-date=22 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122021018/http://expresshealthcare.in/200703/healthcarelife01.shtml|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Sivaramakrishna Iyer Padmavati|url=https://www.womenofhopkins.com/padmavati|access-date=31 August 2020|website=the-women-of-hopkins|language=en|archive-date=1 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901040455/https://www.womenofhopkins.com/padmavati|url-status=live}}

Early life and education

Padmavati was born to a barrister in Burma (now Myanmar) on 20 June 1917. She had three brothers and two sisters.{{Cite web|date=29 September 2002|title=Matters Of Heart|url=https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/matters-of-heart/59293/|access-date=31 August 2020|website=The Financial Express|language=en-US|archive-date=1 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901040504/https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/matters-of-heart/59293/|url-status=live}}

Hers was the story of an indomitable spirit, cultivated during the gory days of the Second World War. Japan's invasion of Myanmar in 1942 forced Padmavati, her mother and sisters to flee Myanmar for Coimbatore, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, leaving their male relatives behind. The family was only reunited once the war ended in 1945.

She received an MBBS degree from Rangoon Medical College, Rangoon and later moved to London in 1949, where she received a FRCP from Royal College of Physicians, followed by FRCPE from Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In her time in the United Kingdom, she worked at the National Heart Hospital, National Chest Hospital, and the National Hospital, Queen Square, London.{{Cite web|title=Eminent Cardiologist Dr S Padmavati Dies Of COVID-19 At 103|url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/eminent-cardiologist-dr-s-padmavati-dies-of-covid-19-at-103-2287764|access-date=31 August 2020|website=NDTV.com|archive-date=31 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831104606/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/eminent-cardiologist-dr-s-padmavati-dies-of-covid-19-at-103-2287764|url-status=live}}

Subsequently, after finishing her FRCP, she moved to Sweden for three months, where she took cardiology courses at the Southern Hospital.[http://www.pharmabiz.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=14364§ionid=17 Prominent doctors honoured with the Wockhardt Medical Excellence Awards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611010821/http://www.pharmabiz.com/article/detnews.asp?articleid=14364§ionid=17 |date=11 June 2015 }} 17 February 2003. Meanwhile, she applied for fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, part of Johns Hopkins University, and was selected, and went on to study with noted cardiologist Helen Taussig. In 1952, she joined Harvard Medical School (Harvard University), where she studied under Paul Dudley White, a pioneer in modern cardiology.[http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=674ql28x71675375&size=largest Development of Cardiac surgery in India] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714081133/http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=674ql28x71675375&size=largest |date=14 July 2011 }}

Career

Back in India, she started her career in 1953, as a lecturer at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi, where she opened a cardiology clinic. In 1954, she was among the first few women cardiologists in India, later as an examiner with Medical Council of India she started the first DM in cardiology in India.{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/24/stories/2009122458220200.htm|title=Awareness on cardiac health vital|date=24 December 2009|access-date=4 August 2010|archive-date=28 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091228142235/http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/24/stories/2009122458220200.htm|work=The Hindu|url-status=dead}} She founded the All India Heart Foundation (AIHF) in 1962, with group of physicians and industrialist Ashok Jain of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.{{Cite web|agency=TNN|date=31 Aug 2020|title=SI Padmavati: India's 1st female cardiologist dies of Covid at 103 {{!}} India News - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indias-1st-female-cardiologist-dies-of-covid-at-103/articleshow/77841687.cms|access-date=31 August 2020|website=The Times of India|language=en|archive-date=31 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831051249/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indias-1st-female-cardiologist-dies-of-covid-at-103/articleshow/77841687.cms|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|author=Dr O. P. Yadava|date=31 Aug 2020|title=The heart doctor with a big heart passes away {{!}} India News - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/the-heart-doctor-with-a-big-heart-passes-away/articleshow/77841582.cms|access-date=31 August 2020|website=The Times of India|language=en|archive-date=1 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901040524/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/the-heart-doctor-with-a-big-heart-passes-away/articleshow/77841582.cms|url-status=live}}

She joined Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi in 1967, and was awarded the Padma Bhushan, by Government of India in the same year. She established one of the first departments of cardiology, at the G. B. Pant Hospital, which is within the college campus. She was the Secretary General of the 5th World Congress of Cardiology, New Delhi in 1966.{{Cite web|title=Fifth World Congress of Cardiology|url=https://heart.bmj.com/content/heartjnl/29/4/636.full.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190426234630/https://heart.bmj.com/content/heartjnl/29/4/636.full.pdf|archive-date=26 April 2019|access-date=30 August 2020|website=British Medical Journal}}

During the 1970s, she was the chief administrator of 3 major institutions at the same time - Maulana Azad Medical College, Lok Nayak Hospital and G.B.Pant hospital. She retired as the Director (Principal) of the Maulana Azad Medical college, in 1978.[http://www.mamc.ac.in/national_award.html National Award winners] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721151013/http://www.mamc.ac.in/national_award.html |date=21 July 2011 }} Maulana Azad Medical College website.

Post retirement, she set up the National Heart Institute (NHI) under AIHF, in South Delhi, in 1981, which expanded in following years to include tertiary patient care, research and population outreach, and where she continued to work. She was also an Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Cardiology of the University of Delhi.

Padmavati became a fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, in 2007, at the age of 90, making her the most senior fellow of the ESC.{{Cite web|title=A Centenarian Fellow|url=https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Who-we-are/Fellowship/dr-sivaramakrishna-iyer-padmavati-fesc,%20https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Who-we-are/Fellowship/dr-sivaramakrishna-iyer-padmavati-fesc|access-date=31 August 2020|website=www.escardio.org|archive-date=1 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901040500/https://www.escardio.org/vgn-ext-templating/404/page-not-found|url-status=live}}

Awards and honors

State honors:

File:Padma Bhushan Ribbon.svg Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor (1967)
File:Padma Vibhushan Ribbon.svg Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor (1992)

Death

On 29 August 2020, Padmavati died from complications due to COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in India at the National Heart Institute in New Delhi. She was aged 103 at the time of her death, and was the oldest living doctor in India. Her body was cremated at a special COVID-19 crematorium at Punjabi Bagh in New Delhi.