Rustom Jal Vakil

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rustom Jal Vakil (17 July 1911 – 20 November 1974) was a cardiologist from India who was awarded a Padma Bhushan for his contributions to medicine. He was the first Indian to win a Lasker Award.

Born in Bombay in 1911, Vakil completed his medical education in London.[1] He pioneered the use of reserpine to control hypertension. Reserpine is derived from Indian Snakeroot, Rauwolfia serpentina, known in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh as Pagal-ki-dawa (‘‘medicine for the insane’’). It was later explored as a treatment for schizophrenia.[2]

Books authored[]

  • Clinical Diagnosis
  • Textbook of Medicine
  • The romance of healing and other essays
  • Heart in Health and Disease

Awards received[]

  • 1958 Padma Bhushan
  • 1959 International Albert Lasker Award
  • 1965 Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award
  • 1969 B.C.Roy Award
  • 1971 The V World Congress of Cardiology Souvenir Award by the Cardiological Society of India
  • 1973 The First Dhanwantari Award

References[]

  1. ^ "History of Medicine" (PDF). Medind.nic.in. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  2. ^ "Mechanisms of neurotransmitter release by amphetamines : A Review" (PDF). Sulzerlab.org. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
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