Fifth Annual Research Day
Christian Medical College celebrated its 5th Annual Research Day on Friday, 10th October 2014, at the Scudder Auditorium, Bagayam, which commenced by 1:00 pm with oral presentations by the researchers in CMC
A Special Oration by Prof. Jacob Abraham - Chief Guest
Followed by the Paper presentations by UG, PG, Nurses & Faculty. Following number of entries were received under categories such as:
- Basic Science were - 31
- Medical Specialties - 66
- Surgical Specialties - 33
- Field work and Epidemiology ‑ 7
- Nursing ‑ 10
A Special Oration was given by Prof. Jacob Abraham who elaborated on the situation of education today and he emphasized on the unity of knowledge which is the key to progress in academic excellence utilizing consilience in every institution. He also stressed upon the universal principals on Ethical codes in academic research.
Prof. Jacob Abraham was awarded the Annual Research Day distinguished retired faculty medal and oration for the year 2014.
The citation of Prof. Jacob Abraham is as follows:
Prof. Jacob Abraham joined CMC in 1949 and was conferred the MBBS degree by the Madras University in 1954. He then obtained his MS (Gen Surg) degree in 1959 and his MS (Neuro) in 1961. He has been on the faculty of CMC from graduation till his retirement as Professor of Neurosurgery and Chairman of the Department of Neurological Sciences in 1991.
Along with the clinical and teaching responsibilities in the department he was given the additional responsibility of vice-principal in charge of P.G. studies and research for a period of 4 years. He was one of the initiators of the PG entrance examination. Later on he was Medical Superintendent. During his tenure as the M.S. an ethics committee was constituted with him in the chair.
The primary aim of the committee was monitoring the increasing numbers of related live donor kidney transplants. He was an Inspector and Examiner for the MCh and N.B. examinations at a number of Universities. He was also a visiting professor to colleges in India, USA, UK and Malaysia.
He was President of the Neurological Society of India in 1983. He has written 80 peer reviewed articles, a book on Aspects of Cerebrovascular diseases, chapters in several books and two books on Brain and Spirituality.
Prof. Jacob Abraham started his international commitments in 1964 when he spent a year and a half at Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA as a visiting scientist, followed by a year at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is convinced that this stint as a visiting scientist opened the vistas of research possibilities to him. He was offered a Commonwealth Fellowship to visit and assess the health system in the Kingdom of Tonga in 1979. One observation was that the population in general had less than average hypertension because the consumption of table salt was almost negligible. He was invited to speak at the Institute of Neurology; Queen’s Square and also to deliver the prestigious Sach’s Oration in the USA in 1989. He was conferred the following honorary fellowships, FACA, FACS and Stroke Council of the American Heart Association and ICMR’s Basmati Devi Amir Chand Prize for research in stroke.
One of the most dramatic and useful surgical maneuvers initiated by Prof Jacob Abraham was the use of a Ventriculo-Atrial shunt prior to operating on midline or posterior fossa tumors. This simple technique brought down the morbidity and mortality down from around 15% to 3%.
Prof. Jacob Abraham’ major contribution has been in the field of ‘Stroke’ and haemodynamics of the blood flow to the brain and spinal cord. A population based epidemiological study in and around Vellore covering about 200,000 people was undertaken to assess the prevalence of hemiplegia. This perhaps was the first such study undertaken in India.
The most interesting finding that emerged was that 25%-28% of the hemiplegics were 40 years or below. To draw wide attention to this phenomenon the First All-India workshop conference on Stroke was held at CMC in November 1971 under the auspices of the Social and Rehabilitation services of USA and ICMR Delhi.
A two pronged approach to tackle the problem of ischemic strokes was launched. One was laboratory based with experimental animals; the other was a translational exploration of techniques to increase blood supply to the ischemic brain and surgical correction of spastic limbs to help better locomotion.
The external carotid artery was found to be haemodynamically more active than the internal in monkeys in response to vasoactive drugs and replicated in humans. Electromagnetic flow meters were used. Two surgical techniques were tried to enhance blood supply to the ischemic brain;the bilateral external artery ligation, yielded better results.
Perhaps the most important contribution made by Prof. Jacob Abraham towards revascularization of the ischemic brain. In a very short time Vellore had completely outstripped in this technique; and it became a routine surgical procedure. Utilizing the omentum for spinal cord ischemia secondary to arachnoiditisonewas first pioneered in Vellore.
In spite of enhancing blood supply to the ischemic brain, one major impediment to proper locomotion still remained because of spastic deformities of the foot. Prof. Jacob Abraham along with the orthopedic surgeons planned out the best combination of lengthening shortened spastic muscles and stabilizing joints. This was greatly appreciated by patients, because appliances were no longer required.
For his outstanding his contribution in research in the field of Neuroscience and Medicine, Prof. Jacob Abraham is awarded the Annual Research Day distinguished retired faculty medal and oration for the year 2014.
Award Certificates and Medals were given to the following recipients:
PRIZES FOR POSTER PRESENTATION
MEDICAL
GOLD - Dr. Anu Anna George, Department of dermatology
SILVER- Ms. Bharathi M. R, Department of Haematology
BRONZE- Mr. Ebenezer Suman Babu, Department of Radiation Oncology
5 CONSOLATION PRIZES
I - Ms. Ansu Abu Alex, Department of Haematology
II - Dr. D.M. Mahesh, Department of Endocrinology
III - Dr. Pijush Kanti Bagchi, Department of Physiology
IV - Dr. Aswathy R, Department of Pharmacology & Clinical Pharmacology
V - Dr. Anu Thomas, Department Of Nuclear Medicine
SURGICAL
GOLD - Dr. Vitsizono Sakhrie, Department of Radiodiagnosis.
SILVER- Dr. Amish Gohil, Department of Plastic surgery.
BRONZE- Dr. Vimalin Samuel, Department of Endocrine Surgery
2 CONSOLATION PRIZES
I - Dr. Augustin Abraham. T, Department of General surgery
II - Mr. David Livingstone, Department of Paediatric Orthopaedics
BASIC SCIENCE:
GOLD - Ms. Sreeja Karathedath, Department of Hematology
SILVER- Ms. Archana Kini, Center for Stem Cell Research
BRONZE- Mr. Thiyagaraj Mayuranathan, Department of Haematology
NURSING AND ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES:
GOLD - Ms. Hima B John, Department of Neonatology
FIELD WORK & EPIDEMOLOGY
GOLD - Dr. Nikita Dharmaraj, MBBS Intern.
PRIZES FOR ORAL PRESENTATION
UNDERGRADUATE PRIZES:
GOLD - Mr. Govind Sreekumar, MBBS Students
POSTGRADUATE PRIZES:
MEDICAL
GOLD - Dr. Sharafine Stephen, Department of ENT - 2.
SILVER- Dr. Selvin Sundar Raj M, Department of General Medicine
2 BRONZE:
I - Dr. Adhiti K, Department of General Medicine
II - Dr. Sahana Shetty, Department of Endocrinology
CONSOLATION PRIZE - Santanu Samanta, Department of Radiation Oncology
SURGICAL
GOLD - Dr. Amit Kumar Tyagi, Department of ENT
SILVER- Dr. Syed Kamran Asif, Department of ENT
BASIC SCIENCE:
GOLD - Dr. H. Pradeep, Department of Pathology
SILVER- Dr. Mohana Priya E, Department of Anatomy
NURSING & ALLIED SCIENCES:
GOLD - Ms. Kothamasi Salomy Charis, M.Sc(N) 2nd yr, College of Nursing
CONSOLATION PRIZE- Ms. Dyana V, MSc (N), College of Nursing
FACULTY PRIZES
MEDICAL:
GOLD - Mr. Timothy Peace B S, Department of Radiation Oncology
SILVER- Dr. Nitin Kapoor, Department of Endocrinology
BRONZE- Mr. Selvaraj Samuel kamalesh kumar, Occupational Therapy
CONSOLATION PRIZE
I- Ms. Dyana V, MSc (N), College of Nursing
II- Mr. Sathish Kumar, Department of Radiation Oncology
III - Mr. A. Sivasakthi, Department of Radiation Oncology
SURGICAL:
GOLD - Dr. Anand V, Department of PMR
SILVER- Dr. Gayatri Deshpande, Department of Surgery
BRONZE- Dr. Indrani Sen, Department of Vascular Surgery
BASIC SCIENCE:
GOLD - Dr. Joe Varghese, Department of Biochemistry
The judges for the annual research were:
Judges-Oral Presentation
Nursing
Sheela Durai
Dr. Deepa Ramasamy
Under Graduate
Dr. Thambu David
Dr. Sarah Mathai
Post Graduates
Dr. Thambu David
Dr. K S Jacob
Dr. Thomas V Paul
Faculty
Prof. Seshadri
Prof. Vinohar Balraj
Judges-Poster Presentation
Basic Sciences
Dr. R. V. Shaji
Dr. Suresh Devasahayam
Dr. Anup Ramachandran
Field Work &Epidemiology
Dr. Anu Bose
Surgical Specialty
Dr. Sunil Agarwal
Dr. Benjamin Perakath
Dr. Deepak Abraham
Nursing
Dr. Deepa Ramasamy
Dr. Balamugesh
Medical Speciality
Dr. B. Poonkuzhali
Dr. Bobby John
Dr. Vinod Abraham
Dr. Molly Jacob