Hardy-Raju chair honors groundbreaking surgeon and his eminent mentor

Pioneering transplant surgeon Dr. Seshadri Raju and his wife, retired nephrologist Dr. Sybil Raju, are endowing the Hardy-Raju Chair of Transplant Surgery at UMMC.

Hardy-Raju chair honors groundbreaking surgeon and his eminent mentor

Published on Monday, December 9, 2024

By: Gary Pettus, [email protected]

The story of a $1 million gift begins 57 years ago on a freezing Mississippi night, when a famous surgeon offered his heated car and a warm handshake to Dr. Seshadri Raju.

After a 9,000-mile journey, Raju had arrived at the University of Mississippi Medical Center to work as a research fellow for Dr. James Hardy, the trailblazing transplant surgeon who drove through a December darkness of sleet and slush to greet him at the airport.

Raju's one-time chauffer would become his long-time benefactor, steering him into a celebrated career of his own.

"He allowed me to do research; he protected me," said Raju, who came to the U.S. from his homeland of India. "He was like a godfather to me."

Now, in a gesture of gratitude, remembrance and foresight, Raju and his wife, retired nephrologist, Dr. Sybil Raju, are endowing the Hardy-Raju Chair of Transplant Surgery at UMMC.

Woodward

"Dr. Raju arrived here to work with one of this institution's legends, Dr. James Hardy. He then became a pioneer in his own right, making an immense impact on the practice of medicine," said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, UMMC vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.

"He's not only a groundbreaking figure in the field of transplant surgery, he also helped revolutionize the treatment of diseases of the veins.

"It is fitting that this new chair at UMMC carries his name and that of his distinguished mentor."

Hardy first distinguished himself by performing the world's first human lung transplant, in 1963, and, seven months later, the world's first heart transplant from animal to human.

The Rajus' $1 million donation is being established to memorialize that past, "but mostly to anticipate the future," Raju said.

Funds will support clinical transplant services "and serve as a major recruitment tool to attract transplant surgeons of the highest caliber to UMMC," said Dr. Chris Anderson, James D. Hardy Professor and Chair of the Department of Surgery.

Anderson

"The chair honors the legacy of Dr. James Hardy as well as Dr. Seshadri Raju's incredible career, which he always humbly credits to his having been Dr. Hardy's student.

"We are tremendously grateful to Dr. Seshadri Raju and Dr. Sybil Raju for their generosity."

Endowed chairs are a "cornerstone" of academic medical centers, said Meredith Aldridge, executive director of the Office of Development and Alumni Engagement.

"They enable us to attract and retain world-class faculty, drive innovative research and provide exceptional patient care. Through the generosity of donors like the Rajus, endowed chairs make it possible for us to advance our mission in perpetuity."

Established through the University of Mississippi Foundation, the gift also honors the career of Raju, currently a vascular surgeon at St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson.

Before leaving the Medical Center, Raju performed the first clinically successful double-lung transplant in the U.S. and the first successful heart transplant in Mississippi.

During those procedures, Raju's mentor observed at the head of the table. "Dr. Hardy watched his lifelong quest come to fruition," Raju said, "albeit through hands he had trained."

A testament to their friendship was Hardy's gift to Raju years later: the ceremonial chair Hardy received as the Department of Surgery's leader.

"I want to keep the chair," Raju said. As for other memorabilia, he has contributed documents and photographs for use in a documentary film to be curated in the UMMC Museum of Medical History.

He is also providing the narrative inscribed in the chair plaque to commemorate the creation of the Hardy-Raju chair. It's a rich narrative.

As a research fellow and, later, as a resident who trained in general and cardiothoracic surgeries, Raju was part of a colorful cadre.

His colleagues included a transplant expert from Turkey who favored tailored suits. One physician's papers were edited by an English major, his wife.

Dr. Richard Yelverton Sr., one of Hardy's first residents, founded the Hardy Society.

Most of all, Raju remembers the surgeon in the station wagon who greeted him the night before New Year's Eve, 1967, drove him from the Jackson airport and put him up for the night, whose thoughtfulness saw him through a spell of homesickness.

"I was just a research fellow; it was amazing to me that a world-famous chief of surgery would take the time on a weekend night to greet a new low-level hire," Raju said.

Known as a "fearsome disciplinarian," Hardy had a kinder side, Raju said. Sometime after the Rajus moved to this country, they traveled to Biloxi for their naturalization ceremony.

"While taking the oath, I looked up and saw Dr. Hardy and Mrs. [Louise "Weezie"] Hardy," Raju said. "They had driven all that way to see us become U.S. citizens.

"People like Dr. Hardy come along only once in a lifetime. He left a much deeper impact on a generation of surgical trainees beyond the transplant headlines. For most of them, the Hardy residency would be a life-changing experience like none other."

Few people could outwork him, Raju said. "His regular work would start at 5:30 a.m. and end around 5 p.m., then he would go to the lab until midnight.

"Sometimes, after an emergency call, he would come in at 2 in the morning, dressed in a blue blazer and tie and start pumping on someone's chest."

After joining the UMMC faculty in 1974, Raju practiced as Hardy's partner. In 1984, along with the late Dr. Bobby Heath, Raju restarted UMMC's heart transplant program.

"I could be a drill sergeant," Raju said. "I wasn't very nice at times, but I thought it was necessary to make sure we did these very demanding procedures properly."

In the areas of transplant immunology, organ preservation and small bowel transplantation, Raju's contributions have been considerable. After joining St. Dominic in the 1990s, he helped transform the treatment of diseases of the veins.

In this file photo, Dr. Seshadri Raju has a happy conversation with his most famous patient: U.S. Rep. Floyd Spence, the recipient of a double-lung transplant by Raju's hand.

His list of memorable patients includes the man who skydived soon after his transplant surgery, in spite of cautions from Raju - who, as a physician and a pilot, knew his stuff. The patient survived.

He remembers his first successful heart transplant patient and the date of the operation: May 28, 1986; and his first successful liver transplant patient, who began his new life on Sept. 22, 1990.

His most famous patient was U.S. Rep. Floyd Spence of South Carolina, who had battled emphysema until 1988, when Raju bought him more years of life through a double-lung transplant.

Spence, a widower, was poised to remarry, promising his potential second wife a ceremony - if he survived the operation. They were married in Spence's hospital room.

"The nurse on duty took notes," Raju said, "and wrote that the patient tolerated the ceremony well."

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