M. S. Valiathan

However the fourth model was a success and more than 100,000 valves have been implanted in patients (till 2016).The multidisciplinary team at the Sree Chitra Institute led by Dr.Valiathan also developed a vascular graft and a series of disposable devices such as blood bag, oxygenator and cardiotomy reservoir, which are in commercial production in industrial units in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Currently, Dr. Valiathan is engaged in promoting research in basic sciences, based on cues from Ayurvedic concepts and procedures. The research in prominent institutes is being supported by government funding in "A Science Initiative in Ayurveda" (ASIIA). In his report, during the seventeenth meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) in 2009, under the Chairmanship of Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Dr. Valiathan lauded the support of the Indian government while presenting an update on ongoing projects. ASIIA made good progress and has been taken over by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, for sustained support under a "Task Force in Ayurvedic Biology", which appears on the SERB website. He has also given a course of video lectures on ` The Ayurvedic Inheritance of India ' under the NPTEL programme of the IITs of India. These lectures provided the material for his book ` Ayurvedic Inheritance; A Reader's Companion'published by Manipal University Press in 2017.

He was awarded the Padma Vibushan in 2005 for his contributions to health technology in India. He was made a Chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques, an honour bestowed by the French government, in 1999. He received the Dr. Samuel P. Asper International Award from the Johns Hopkins University Medical School in 2009 for his contributions to international medical education.

After about twenty years at Sri Chitra, Dr. Valiathan became the vice-chancellor of the newly set up Manipal University (then MAHE, Manipal Academy of Higher Education). He held this office till 1999.

In the year 1999, he was awarded a Senior Fellowship by the Homi Bhabha Council to pursue a study of Caraka, which culminated in the publication a book "The Legacy of Caraka". Later on, as a National Research Professor, he carried out a study of Sushruta and Vagbhata and completed the series of Legacy volumes on the ` Great Three' of Ayurveda.

He has served on the faculty of the Georgetown University Hospital, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and as director of Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology. Subsequently, Valiathan became the first Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University in 1994.

In 1975, the demand for prosthetic valves was high in the hospital, which could not be met by imported valves in view of prohibitive cost. The state of Kerala had but one licensed abattoir at that time in Koothattukulam, which slaughtered less than 200 pigs per month and made procine valve development unviable. As autopsies were much fewer, homograft valve development was even less viable. Under these circumstances, Dr. Valiathan and his team opted to develop a mechanical valve of tilting-disc design. The currently marketed Chitra-TTK valve is the fourth model in a series that was developed over a decade of effort.

In 1972, Valiathan returned to India and had an uncertain beginning at the Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi. Soon after he moved to Indian Institute of Technology Madras where his responsibility was teaching with low priority for research. Several friends and colleagues, including Dr. Hufnagel wondered whether he had made a foolish mistake in opting to leave the United States. However he received an invitation from the Government of Kerala where the Chief Minister, Shri Achutha Menon, asked him to develop a hospital for specialities in the new, unoccupied building of Sree Chitra Tirunal Center, Trivandrum, and gave him freedom and authority to accomplish the task. The hospital was set up in two years and patients with cardiovascular and neurologic diseases admitted for treatment. Simultaneously the development of cardiovascular devices was initiated with the support of the Science and Engineering Research Council of the Government of India. As Sree Chitra Institute grew, it received support from prime minister Morarji Desai and was notified as "An Institution of National Importance" by an Act of Parliament within five years of Dr. Valiathan's leadership.

He was also granted the fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in cardiovascular surgery in 1970.

Marthanda Varma Sankaran Valiathan (born 24 May 1934) is an Indian cardiac surgeon. He is a former President of the Indian National Science Academy and National Research Professor of the Government of India.

He was born to Marthanda Varma and Janaki Varma in 1934. His early education was at a government school in Mavelikara, followed by the University College, Trivandrum. Valiathan's medical education took place at the Medical College, Trivandrum, University of Kerala, where he obtained his M B B S degree(1951-1956). He later went to the University of Liverpool in Liverpool, England as a surgical trainee and received his fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and England in 1960 and master's degree in surgery from the University of Liverpool. After a brief stint as a faculty member at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh he underwent further training in cardiac surgery at the Johns Hopkins, George Washington, and Georgetown University Hospitals, USA. He worked as a Fellow of Doctors Vincent Gott at the Hopkins and Charles Hufnagel at the Georgetown University