Dr David Nathan, professor of medicine of Harvard Medical School, addressed an eminent gathering of Indian doctors and made a scientific presentation on 'Cancer and Heart Diseases: Connected through Diabetes' on the occasion of the fourth biennial Wockhardt Medical Excellence Awards 2009 organised by Harvard Medical International at a special awards function in Mumbai.

According to Dr Nathan, "Cancer and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) are emerging as major diseases in India. This is due to the fact that cancer is caused either by mutated proteins that cause excessive cell growth or loss of proteins that control cell death. CAD is caused almost purely by cholesterol excess and by genetic failure to clear cholesterol properly. It is also associated with a metabolic syndrome like diabetes, hypertension and obesity, which too is growing enormously in India."

In agreement with Dr Nathan's observation, Wockhardt chairman Habil Khorakiwala said, "Emerging countries like India are going through rapid epidemiological transition from infectious to non-communicable chronic diseases. Therefore the challenge before us is in managing chronic diseases." He further added, "India's medical prowess is proven internationally as some of the medical work undertaken by these awardees are of pioneering nature."

As part of a common vision to catalyse excellence in clinical practices in India, Wockhardt and Harvard Medical International institutionalised these biennial awards in the year 2003 for Indian medical practitioners who excel in the field of medical sciences. The awards seek to identify, recognise, and encourage the valuable contributions of medical practitioners whose accomplishments have made major advances in understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment and cure of ailments in selected medical specialities in India. Harvard Medical International has instituted and implemented international standard processes for the selection of the awardees for these prestigious awards.

The recipients of the Wockhardt Medical Excellence Awards 2009 are Dr Suresh Joshi - Cardiac Surgery (Mumbai), Dr D Nagaraja - Neurology (Bangalore), Dr Mayil Natarajan - Orthopaedics (Chennai), Dr Purvish Parikh - Oncology (Mumbai) and Dr Laxmi Kant Shankhdhar - Diabetology (Lucknow).