Classics in Indian Medicine

Professor Sujoy B. Roy who coined the term ‘Juvenile Rheumatic Stenosis’, to describe this enigmatic entity was born in Burma (now Myanmar) and completed his undergraduate training at the Rangoon University Medical School. He had his postgraduate training in UK and then moved to the United States and worked with luminaries like Dr Benedict Massell at the House of Good Samaritan, and Dr Lewis Dexter and Dr Walter Abelmann at the Brigham and Boston City Hospital. He was working in the USA when the then Health Minister of India, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, requested him to join the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which he did, in 1958. He built up the department of Cardiology from scratch and under his guidance the department grew to become one of the most active departments of Cardiology in the country. Professor Roy was a compassionate physician, a dedicated researcher and an accomplished teacher. Most of the teachers of the current generation of cardiologists were his students. Apart from his work on rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, his work on high-altitude cardiorespiratory problems led to a better understanding of this problem and helped us maintain troops in the Himalayas. He received numerous awards and decorations for his outstanding contributions including the Padma Bhushan. He was a member of the Armed Forces Medical Research Council and the Cardiovascular expert group of WHO. Professor Roy was passionate about increasing awareness about heart diseases and regularly wrote articles for the lay press. Professor Roy passed away on 25 March 1976.