Eminent surgeon and Padma Shri awardee Raghu Ram Pillarisetti has found a place in the Queen Elizabeth II's prestigious 2021 New Year's Honours list. Instituted in 1917 by King George V, The Queens Honours are amongst the most prestigious awards worldwide.
KIMS-Ushalakshmi Centre for Breast Disease's Director, Raghu Ram Pillarisetti, has achieved the rare distinction of becoming one of the youngest surgeons of Indian origin in over 100 years to be honoured by the Queen with an OBE Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He is 54.
This is the second highest ranking Order of the British Empire award (excluding a knighthood/damehood) conferred in recognition of his outstanding services towards improving breast cancer care and surgical education in India and to UK/India relations, it said.
The British Honours system aims to show gratitude publicly to those who have 'gone the extra mile' in their service and who stand out 'head and shoulders' above others in their distinction, it added.
Meanwhile, Pillarisetti said that he was deeply grateful and incredibly humbled to accept the honour. "It felt surreal and was at loss for words when I was informed that Her Majesty, the Queen may graciously appoint me as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire," he added.
Born on September 22, 1966, in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur, Raghu Ram's parents were also doctors. He studied MBBS from Siddhartha Medical College in Karnataka's Tumkur and then completed his MS from Kasturba Medical College in Mangalore. Raghu Ram then went to UK and obtained the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) in 1997 from all the four Surgical Royal Colleges in the British Isles (Edinburgh, London, Glasgow & Ireland). Subsequently, he completed Higher Surgical Training & subspecialty training in oncoplastic breast surgery at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust in London and at the Nottingham Breast Institute.
In 2002, Raghu Ram's mother Ushalakshmi Kumari was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2007, he relocated to India and established a dedicated facility for breast health care at KIMS Hospitals in Hyderabad. Later, he founded the Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation, a not for profit organisation, working together with the government and non-government bodies to spread awareness about breast cancer.
Raghu Ram has been bestowed with numerous awards, including the fourth highest Indian civilian award Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy National award for ‘Outstanding service in the field of Socio Medical Relief’.
