P.S. Reddy to Receive American Heart Association’s 2010 Pulse of Pittsburgh Award

Sudhakar Pesara "P.S." Reddy

Sudhakar Pesara “P.S.” Reddy, a professor of medicine in the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology, will receive the 2010 Peter J. Safar Pulse of Pittsburgh Award from the American Heart Association, Allegheny Division. The award will be presented during the 2010 Pittsburgh Heart Ball on Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Pittsburgh Hilton, Downtown.

“Dr. Reddy’s contributions to the field of cardiology—and, more broadly, to the cause of human health—have been enormous,” said University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “In addition to the wonderful work he has done here in Pittsburgh, his extraordinary efforts to deliver world-class health care to rural communities in India have had an immeasurable impact on the health of children and families that previously had little or no access to modern medical services. We are extremely fortunate that Dr. Reddy has chosen to make the University of Pittsburgh his academic home for more than 40 years, and we extend to him our most hearty congratulations, as well as our deep gratitude.”

“Dr. Reddy is an exceptional clinician and humanitarian whose commitment to helping others has advanced cardiovascular care both in the U.S. and around the world,” said Barry London, director of the UPMC Cardiovascular Institute and chief of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology.

In 1981, Reddy’s commitment to helping others inspired him to establish Science Health Allied Research Education (SHARE), a charitable foundation dedicated to promoting scientific exchange between the U.S. and Third World Countries – particularly India. Funding through SHARE enabled Reddy to establish MediCiti Hospitals in Hyderabad, India. The main facility provides tertiary care to residents and another suburban facility provides primary and secondary care through its attached medical college, MediCiti Institute of Medical Sciences.

In 1988 and 1989, Reddy traveled to Egypt several times to share his expertise with area surgeons. He trained local cardiologists to perform mitral valvuloplasty—a minimally invasive procedure that helps to open a blocked heart valve. Since then, this procedure has benefited thousands of underserved patients in Egypt.

Reddy earned a medical degree from Gandhi Medical College in Hyderabad, where he also completed a rotating internship at Osmania General Hospital. He moved to the United Kingdom for residencies in medicine, neurology, chest diseases, cardiology, and internal medicine. Upon earning board certifications in medicine and cardiology, Reddy moved to Pittsburgh, where he completed a medical residency and fellowship at Pitt. He joined the Pitt faculty in 1971. Reddy also served as director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at UPMC Presbyterian from 1972 to 1993.

The author of more than 100 journal articles and a book, Pericardial Disease (Raven Press, 1982), Reddy’s research and clinical interests are in hemodynamics, pericardial diseases, and auscultation, which is the act of listening for sounds made by internal organs, as the heart and lungs.