Dr. Vemuri S. Murthy honored by US Congressmen as a “Global Champion of Resuscitation”

Chicago IL: Dr. Vemuri S. Murthy, a well-known resuscitation educator and trainer, a veteran US and international volunteer of the American Heart Association (AHA) for more than three decades, and current faculty member of the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois @ Chicago, was honored by the US Congressmen Honorable Danny K. Davis (Democratic US Congressman, Illinois District 7) and Honorable Peter J. Roskam (Republican US Congressman, Illinois District 6) with a Medal of US Congress as a Global Champion of Resuscitation.

The award was presented at the 38th Annual Gala Banquet of the Indian American Medical Association, Illinois in Willow Brook, IL on November 17, 2018. The Medal was presented by the two Congressmen with the plaque (citation) signed by them “in recognition of his life's mission to enhance the Global Resuscitation Outcomes with ongoing community and physician education and training”.

“I am deeply humbled to receive this honor,” Dr. Murthy said in a statement, in response to being chosen to receive this honor. “I believe it recognizes the efforts of millions of global volunteers and many organizations such as the American Heart Association (AHA) that dedicate themselves to saving precious lives that would otherwise be lost to sudden cardiac arrest.” AHA has recognized him for “outstanding support and contributions in advancing the mission of the AHA”.

Dr. Naresh Parikh, President of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) lauded Dr. Murthy’s commitment to Global Resuscitation Outcomes. “He is the Chairman of AAPI Global CPR Ad Hoc Committee for a life-saving global health project of AAPI initiated in 2018 with a mission to enhance the outcomes after sudden cardiac arrests in the US and India through ongoing community hands-only CPR training and AED awareness with multi-organizational affiliations, Dr. Parikh said. “AAPI is proud to represent thousands of U.S. physicians of Indian origin who make contributions to the motherland and to the adopted homeland,” he added.

Dr. Murthy, who is considered “a pioneer of resuscitation education in Indian Medical Colleges” for initiating mandatory resuscitation training courses in all medical colleges affiliated with Dr. NTR University of Medical Sciences, Andhra Pradesh, has commended AAPI for its life-saving Community CPR training project for India and the US and thanked members of the CPR Committee.

Dr. Murthy, a life-member of AAPI for several years, has been a speaker at the CME events and conducted the first AAPI-AHA Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certification Program in Ahmedabad, India in 2014 as the Chairman of the AAPI-AHA liaison committee.

“I am thankful to the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, the Chicago Medical Society, the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, the Indian American Medical Association, Illinois, and several other organizations in the U.S. and India for their commitment to Community CPR training,” said Dr. Murthy. “I also thank the Medical Council of India for including resuscitation training in the medical curriculum”. “I hope to see the expansion of the current emergency medicine residency programs to all teaching hospitals in India” he added.

A visiting Medical University Professor and Advisor of the Medical University Resuscitation Training Programs in India, Dr. Murthy established a wide network of Physician resuscitation instructors in India. His community CPR information has been translated into several Indian languages. He has initiated an ongoing Community CPR project in India affiliated with the University of Illinois @ Chicago involving US medical residents. An International AHA faculty for resuscitation courses, he chaired programs at Annual Resuscitation Symposia in the USA, conducted resuscitation seminars and lectured at prestigious Medical Institutes in the USA and India. He is instrumental in establishing some of the AHA International Training Centers in India.

Dr. Murthy is the current President of the historic Chicago Medical Society (CMS) founded in 1850 and is the Founder of the Society’s Community CPR awareness Project SMILE (Saving More Illinois Lives through Education) in 2011, which is the first Medical Society-initiated Community CPR training project in the US. Dr. Murthy’s training participants included the US Congressmen, Illinois State and Cook County Legislators including the Speaker of the Senate, and Consul-Generals of the Chicago Consular Corps. His contributions to community health initiatives and leadership of organized medicine were commended by the US Congressmen, and State and County leadership and the former Governor of Illinois. The Mayor of Chicago and Chicago City Council recognized (2018) his contributions during a proclamation of March 30 as the “Chicago Medical Society Day”. Dr. Murthy is also the past President of the Indian American Medical Association, Illinois (1998) and a current member of the Board of Directors.

Dr. Murthy is the recipient of several prestigious awards and recognitions from the Professional Societies, Academic Institutions and Organizations in the USA and Internationally such as the Chicago Medical Society’s Henrietta Herbolsheimer Public Service Award, Global Health Champion Award of Global Health Consortium, Distinguished Physician Award and Lifetime Achievement Award of the Indian American Medical Association, Illinois, among others. He was honored by the US Congressmen, Former Health Minister of India, Indian Medical Association (India), American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin, Cardiological Society of India, etc.

Dr. Murthy says, his motivation as a community CPR volunteer is “linked to my decades of professional practice, reviving victims of cardiac emergencies and rescuing one of my own family members.”