The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) has inducted Dr Lokeswara Rao Sajja, senior consultant of cardiothoracic surgeon at Star Hospitals in Hyderabad, to become a member of its association recognising his pioneering work in the field of cardiothoracic surgery, which is a rare distinction achieved by Indian doctors.

Conferred with this rare distinction, Dr Sajja becomes the first doctor from Andhra Pradesh to achieve the membership of such a prestigious association in the world.

Out of 37 highly qualified surgeons who have been chosen for the prestigious membership award 20 are selected from USA and only four are selected from India while the rest are selected from different countries across the globe.

At present AATS consists of over 1200 of the world’s foremost cardiothoracic surgeons representing 35 countries. Founded in 1917, its members have a proven record of distinction within the international cardiothoracic surgical field and have made meritorious contributions to the extant knowledge base about cardiothoracic disease and its surgical treatment.

Dr Sajja is one of the only four Indians to have been chosen to become members of the AATS and the first from the state of Andhra Pradesh, setting an unprecedented record in the history of the cardiothoracic surgical filed of Andhra Pradesh.

The AATS takes utmost care to ensure that the members chosen by them are pioneers in the field of cardiothoracic surgery from all over the world. A doctor has to achieve a certain amount of distinction through his academic, research and surgical skills before he/she is even considered to enter the prestigious organisation.

Dr Sajja, who has contributed immensely to the field of cardiothoracic surgery, is known for his pioneering research and surgical skills. Prior to mastering the scientific art of cardiothoracic surgery, Dr Sajja had gone through a series of highly exalted institutions that are extremely difficult to get in for most people.

Dr Sajja has been associated with almost 10,000 cardiac operations and has performed over 3000 coronary artery bypass surgeries. By performing 348 consecutive heart operations wherein all the patients were treated successfully without any mortality, he set a new record in the field of cardiac surgery.

During the past one decade, Dr Sajja has published more than 50 research papers in different international journals and has given various presentations at international forums and is already a member of several world medical organizations like The Society of Thoracic surgeons (USA), European Association for cardiothoracic surgery (EACTS), Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery (ASCTS) and fellow of Indian Association of Thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons.