M.B.B.S., M.S. (General Surgery), M.Ch. (Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery)
Dr Sandeep Attawar is the Director of the Department of Lung Transplant at Sir H. N Reliance Foundation Hospital.
Dr. Attawar graduated and specialised in General Surgery at the Sheth KM School of PG Medicine and further specialised in cardiac surgery at the Sri Chitra Thirunal Institute, Trivandrum. He subsequently worked at the Manipal Heart Foundation and Narayana Hrudayalaya. Since 2001, he has been actively involved in setting up Greenfield Heart Surgical Services, and since 2011, he has expanded the services to perform thoracic organ transplantation and mechanical circulatory support.
Now, Dr. Atawar focuses on the top-down realignment of pre-existing cardiac and respiratory services into heart and lung transplant centres. He did that for Gleneagles Global Hospitals at Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Bombay before becoming the Founding Director of the Solid Thoracic Organ TX Program at KIMS Hospitals. His team has performed more than 555 thoracic organ transplants (381 double lung transplants, 117 heart transplants, and 57 combined heart and lung transplants), with over 50 long-term ventricular assist device (LVAD) implants.
Dr. Attawar is an active member of international cardiothoracic forums such as the International society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), Society of Thoracic surgeons (STS), and the European association of cardio-thoracic surgery (EACTS). This year, he was chosen as part of an international panel comprising 24 experts to lay down the guidelines for lung transplantations at the ISHLT. These guidelines are considered the lung transplant bible at over 250 hospitals worldwide that perform lung transplantation procedures.
Dr. Attawar contributed to the to-be-released textbook titled ‘Transplantations and Mechanical Circulatory Support for End-stage Lung and Heart Disease’, published by Wiley Publishing. He has published in leading journals such as the Annals of Thoracic Surgery (ATS), and regularly delivers presentations worldwide. He is a scientific advisor for Reliant Heart and is involved in advancing the field of mechanically assisted circulation. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Thoracic disease. Dr. Attawar is currently the proctor for Jarvik Heart and Heart Mate III in India and South East Asia.
Dr. Attawar is a firm believer in universal access to quality care and outcomes in heart and lung transplants and strives to provide the highest quality of care to patients.