The Patron's Desk
Shri. Venu Srinivasan
As I stand before you at the 41st TS Srinivasan Oration, my predominant emotions are gratitude and humility; that an annual program we started in honour of my father together with Dr. Krishnamoorthy Srinivas has crossed four decades and enters the fifth; and that a galaxy of neuroscientists from around the globe have graced this occasion over four decades, sharing with us generously their pearls of wisdom. My late father Mr. TS Srinivasan, was an industrialist by profession, and was fascinated by medicine as a subject, so much so that he would read medical journals of the time. He also had great concern for humanity. We are therefore very pleased as a family to be able to remember him through this medical event each year.
We began the journey with an oration; developed this into an annual educational event, launched two community neurology departments and projects in Chennai at Public Health Centre and Voluntary Health Services and all this culminated in a stream of academic activity through the TS Srinivasan Chair at the National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences. We also have two books on transcultural neurology to our credit published by Cambridge University Press, Dementia - A Global Approach now in its II edition (Krishnamoorthy & Cummings) and Epilepsy- A Global Approach (Krishnamoorthy, Shorvon & Schachter).
All these activities have been guided by the TS Srinivasan Advisory Board chaired ably by Professor Timothy Pedley of Columbia who completed his term in February 2020, supported by professors John Morris (Washington), Sam Berkovic (Australia), Simon Shorvon (London) and Ralph Sacco (Miami); I am very pleased that all of them have participated actively in this year’s conclave. We are deeply indebted to them. I am also very happy that we had Dr. Madhav Thambisetty of Johns Hopkins visit NIMHANS and interact with the faculty there as the TS Srinivasan visiting professor and that he has anchored the CPC (clinic-pathological conference) at this year’s meeting.
It also is a great privilege for us that several members of the Asian Society Against Dementia leadership have participated actively in this year’s conclave and today we have the President Prof. Christopher Chen of Singapore and Treasurer Professor Vincent Mok of Hong Kong, both with Asian expertise in Vascular Dementia, chairing this lecture.
I am very happy that we have managed to create a repository of all this work in a dedicated website and have pleasure in declaring it open today.
Before Covid 19 began, we had hosted the TS Srinivasan-NIMHANS Conclave on Stroke in Bengaluru and the 40th TS Srinivasan Oration in Chennai by Prof. Ralph Sacco, then President of the American Academy of Neurology. We were already planning for 2021 February when the pandemic struck. While the postponement of this event became inevitable, the pandemic has also created an opportunity for us to savour and enjoy this academic feast online in 2021. We the TS Srinivasan family are honoured that someone who has become a legend in neurology in his lifetime, Professor Vladmir Hachinski, whose contribution to the interface between strokes and dementia is par compare, has accepted our invitation to deliver the 41st TS Srinivasan Oration.
While I would have loved to host you in Chennai, Professor Hachinski, as has been our tradition, the unusual circumstances we are in, preclude this. It deem it an honour to present you with the traditional medal and scroll virtually and look forward to listening to your oration.
The pandemic has forced all of us to rethink our approach to work including meetings. We at TVS have taken the opportunity to make several changes at work, embracing the convenience of modern technology. In line with all this, we propose to rethink our approach to this annual event and its associated programs, together with our Advisory Board. In the meantime, I have pleasure in welcoming you all to this year’s digital TS Srinivasan oration and in joining you in listening to Professor Vladimir Hachinski of Canada, who becomes the second Canadian to grace this event, the first having been Prof. Donald Baxter of the Montreal Neurological Institute.
All Our Past
Endowment Orations
Our Publications
One of the outcomes of the TS Srinivasan Knowledge Conclaves is this series of transcultural neurology publications from Cambridge University Press. Encouraged by an endowment from the TS Srinivasan Charitable Trust these publications bring together neuroscientists and mental health professionals from across the globe to address “Transcultural Issues” of import. Dementia (now with the second edition in press) and Epilepsy are the first two books in the series.
