Nagarur Gopinath

Nagarur Gopinath (13 November 1922 – 3 June 2007) was an Indian surgeon and one of the pioneers of cardiothoracic surgery in India. He is credited with the first successful performance of open heart surgery in India which he performed in 1962. He served as the honorary surgeon to two Presidents of India and was a recipient of the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri in 1974 and Dr. B. C. Roy Award, the highest Indian medical award in 1978 from the Government of India. in the south Indian state of Karnataka to Sundaramma and Nagarur Narayana Rao. and the founding president of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS).

The move to CMCH gave Gopinath the opportunity to interact with some of the noted medical doctors in India such as A. K. Basu, Meherji Mehta and B. L. Gupta. at the University of Minnesota Hospitals in Minneapolis, USA. Gopinath engaged himself with research activities at Sitaram Bhartia Institute Hospital in New Delhi.

Gopinath was one of the pioneers of open heart surgery and perfusion in India. He also introduced pioneering methods in rheumatic heart surgery and cardiac pacemaker implantation. His efforts are reported behind the centre receiving two grants, one from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and the other from the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India. Later, he focused his research on aorta, the largest artery and aortic valve and his efforts helped to create a human and animal heart valve bank at AIIMS, New Delhi. the first one published in 1952 in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, discussing about the advent of thoracic surgery in India. M. R. Girinath, Padma Bhushan winner and chief cardiothoracic surgeon at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, I. M. Rao formerly of AIIMS, New Delhi, A. Sampath Kumar of AIIMS, New Delhi and Stanley John,

Awards and honours Gopinath, who served as the honorary surgeon to two of the presidents of India, received the Rockefeller Foundation fellowship in 1957 which assisted him in his training at the University of Minnesota. and the Association of Cardio Vascular and Thoracic Surgeons of India. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1974.