About Prof GD Sundararaj

Professor GD Sundararaj was an MBBS Alumnus from the batch of 1967 at CMC Vellore. He was also the first MS Orthopaedic post graduate. He was an outstanding student having won the Madras University gold medal in Orthopaedics. He was a gifted Orthopaedic surgeon who was equally proficient at areas that are now consider subspecialised branches of Orthopaedics like Hand Surgery, Arthroplasty and Trauma. His passion however was Spine Surgery. He trained in various Spine centers of excellence in the UK and Germany. His stint with Professor Juergen Harms shaped his career significantly. He was instrumental in setting up the subunit of Spine Surgery within the Department of Orthopaedics - Unit 1. Prof GDS work ethics was unmatched. He was a highly inspiring teacher and strived to formalise the teaching of spine surgery. Towards this end he established the 2 year post doctoral fellowship in Spine Surgery in 2008. More than 21 Spine Surgeons have been trained and certified through this program. He has been a father figure and mentor to scores of CMC’s Orthopaedic surgeons. His impact on this Department and the lives of many of us has been tremendous.

After his retirement from CMC, he moved to Nepal and was serving in a mission hospital there. He passed away in 2015. We are pleased to established the Professor GD Sundararaj Oration in our ‘Chiefs’ honour. We trust that this academic gesture will perpetuate the legacy of this master clinician, surgeon teacher and mentor par excellence.