Adiseshiah, Mohankumar (1941 - 2020)
by
 
Irving Taylor

Asset Name
E009913 - Adiseshiah, Mohankumar (1941 - 2020)

Title
Adiseshiah, Mohankumar (1941 - 2020)

Author
Irving Taylor

Identifier
RCS: E009913

Publisher
The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2021-02-10
 
2021-03-30

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Description
Obituary for Adiseshiah, Mohankumar (1941 - 2020), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
IsPartOf Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Date of Birth
20 May 1941

Date of Death
24 April 2020

Occupation
Vascular surgeon
 
General surgeon

Titles/Qualifications
MB BS London 1965
 
MRCS LRCP 1965
 
MRCP 1968
 
FRCS 1969
 
MA Cambridge 1977
 
MS London 1978
 
FRCP 1998

Details
Mohankumar Adiseshiah, known by all as ‘Mo’, was a consultant vascular surgeon at the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He was born in Madras, India on 20 May 1941. His father, Malcolm Adiseshiah, was an internationally-renowned UNESCO educationalist. His mother, Helen née Paranjoti, was the daughter of a prominent clergyman. He attended La Martiniere College in Lucknow prior to moving to the UK, where he attended Wandsworth School in south London. From there he was successful in obtaining an entrance state scholarship to King’s and Westminster Medical School. Mo graduated in 1965 and was awarded the Arthur Evans memorial prize in surgery. He subsequently became a fellow of both the Royal College of Surgeons of England (in 1969) and of the Royal College of Physicians (in 1998). Following house officer posts at the Westminster and St George’s, he commenced his surgical training at University College Hospital London and in Cambridge. He later spent time as a research fellow in Toronto and as a lecturer in Hong Kong. He was particularly influenced in his training by Harold Ellis, Charles Drew, David Bailey, G B Ong in Hong Kong and Ronald Baird in Toronto. He was awarded an MA (Cambridge) in 1977 and an MS (London) in 1978. On his return to the UK, he was appointed as a consultant surgeon in Huntingdon and a lecturer in Cambridge. Typical of Mo, he threw himself energetically into upgrading Huntingdon Hospital to a full district general hospital with the help of the then local MP John Major. Mo returned to the Middlesex Hospital and UCH in 1982, serving with enviable distinction in many capacities in the hospital and university, until his retirement. As clinical director for surgery, he redefined vascular surgery as an emerging subspecialty of general surgery and oversaw the transition of the service to the current excellent UCLH main campus. He maintained a commitment to surgical research throughout his career and published widely, however, his most enduring legacy is undoubtedly his pioneering role in the early development of minimally invasive endoluminal stent graft repair, as an alternative to open surgery. He was a very early convert, cobbling together homemade early prototypes, and patenting the University College London technique in 1995. He stuck with this new technique through its at times underwhelming ‘endo-gloominal’ infancy whilst training, publishing and participating in defining trials for what is now the global default aortic operative approach. To Mo and his small band of pioneering colleagues, the vascular community owe a wealth of gratitude. Mo loved to travel. A visionary surgeon from the start, he understood that we can only see as far as our horizons. His professional travels took him to every continent. As a regular invited faculty member at international meetings, he contributed tirelessly. He served on the council of the Vascular Society and published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including book chapters and national newspaper articles. He chaired the medical committee and was a trustee of St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy. Mo adored cricket, rugby (Saracens) and the theatre, being responsible for a number of raucous productions whilst at medical school. He played squash and the violin. He was also passionately concerned about the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. Surviving a major stroke in November 2018, the cruellest blow to a surgeon who had saved countless others from the same fate, he regained some quality of his life only to be taken by Covid-19 on 20 April 2020 at the age of 78. Mo was a wise, compassionate and generous man and was survived by his wife Maria (née Kilkelly), six children and two granddaughters.

Sources
*BMJ* 2020 371 4659 www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4659.full – accessed 29 March 2021

Rights
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England
 
Image Copyright (c) Image reproduced with kind permission of the Adiseshiah family

Collection
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Format
Obituary

Format
Asset

Asset Path
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E009000-E009999/E009900-E009999

URL for File
384250

Media Type
JPEG Image

File Size
78.30 KB