Professor Sudha Seshayyan, Vice-Chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, has been awarded the prestigious Fellowship Ad Hominem of the Royal College of Surgeons at the November diploma ceremony.
An alumni of the Madras Medical College, Professor Seshayyan pursued her post graduate studies in non-clinical sciences and obtained an MS in Anatomy in 1987 from the University of Madras. She further went on to obtain qualifications in Administration and in Hospital Management from Osmania University, Hyderabad, and Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu.
She taught Anatomy in a number of institutions in India, before being appointed Registrar to the Tamil Nadu Medical University in 2009. She rose to the position of Vice-Chancellor with a rather onerous task of managing 25 Medical Colleges, Dental College, Indian Medicine Colleges and Allied Health Professionals.
In spite of a busy administrative role, Professor Seshayyan serves as a mentor in the conduct of research methods, biostatistics and scientific medical writing. Her passion for teaching anatomy is renowned: she is an advisory member on the editorial board of Grays’ Anatomy and the Atlas of Gross Anatomy. She has numerous publications in anatomy and hosted and spoken at national, regional and international meetings.
Her topics of interest are not limited to Anatomy and Surgery; she has written extensively on the history of medicine and medical education in South India, including on the connections between Scotland and the Madras Medical College. She has also numerous publications on Hinduism and is a regular host for programmes on Tamil Nadu television.
Professor Seshayyan’s has been introduced to many College volunteers and staff, with areas of future cooperation including support for the RCSEd Conference in Chennai; exam development; the development of an Anatomy museum at the MMC; and the running of Wade anatomy courses in Chennai.