Five outstanding Indian doctors handpicked by Harvard Medical International (HMI), the international arm of Harvard Medical School of USA, were presented with Wockhardt Medical Excellence Awards here last night.

The five doctors who won the coveted awards are Dr Nadir Bharucha (neurology), Dr Vivek Jawali (cardiac surgery), Dr S Rajasekaran (orthopaedics), Prof A Ramachandran (endocrinology) and Dr Hasmukh Shroff (dermatology).

The winners were congratulated by Dr Alan Jacobson, Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and senior vice president of Joslin Diabetes Center, the world's foremost diabetes research centre in Boston, USA . Dr Jacobson is internationally known for his research on the links between diabetes and psychological disorders.

"These doctors are institutions by themselves in their specialities," Wockhardt Group chairman Habil Khorakiwala said. "I am thankful to the Harvard Medical School faculty for providing their expertise, knowledge and experience in selecting institution builders, and icons in medical profession."

Nobel Prize winner Dr Joseph Murray, who performed the world's first organ transplant on identical twins in 1954, addressed the gathering through video.

Dr Nadir Bharucha, renowned neurologist from Mumbai, is internationally known for his research in neuroepidemology in the Parsi community. Cardiac surgeon Dr Vivek Jawali was the first to perform awake heart surgery and has a world record of having performed 500 such surgeries. Dr S Rajasekaran of Coimbatore performs more than 4,000 major orthopaedic surgeons annually and has introduced new procedures in the fields of trauma, micro surgery and spine surgery. Prof A Ramachandran has done outstanding work in diabetes research and pioneered the development of Indian diabetes risk score. Dr Hasmukh Shroff, a Mumbai-based dermatologist, was instrumental in the establishment of an advanced leprosy care centre and an AIDS Research and Control Centre.

The awards, which were instituted in the year 2003, are a joint vision of HMI and Wockhardt to catalyse excellence in clinical medicine in India. It is a biannual event that seeks to identify and encourage the valuable contribution made by medical practitioners, whose accomplishments have helped make advances in medical research, prevention, diagnosis and care in select medical specialities in India.