About Sajja Heart Foundation
Sajja Heart Foundation is established by Dr. Lokeswara Rao Sajja who hails from Jandrapet Village of Chirala Mandal in Andhra Pradesh, India. He did his basic medical education at Guntur Medical College and went on to do his super-specialization in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He obtained extensive advanced training under world-renowned Cardiac Surgeon, Prof. Denton Cooley at the Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA.
Dr. Sajja participated in 21,000 open heart operations, including around 15,000 Coronary
Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgeries, Dr. Sajja has made significant contributions to healthcare. Notably, he has
performed approximately 4,500 CABG surgeries under the Arogyasree Scheme, a State-sponsored health initiative. Dr. Sajja was elected as an Active Member in the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) for his proven record of distinction within the international cardiothoracic surgical field and meritorious contributions to the extant knowledge base about the cardiothoracic disease and its surgical treatment (he is the fourth and youngest Cardiac Surgeon to reach this milestone from India since its inception in the year 1917 and the first from Andhra Pradesh).
He is the first and only surgeon from India who has also presented a paper at the Annual Meeting of Prestigious AATS so far. He is also a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (USA), European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Asian Society for Cardiovascular Surgery, Fellow of American College of Surgeons, and Indian Association of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons. He has presented papers of original research at all the prestigious international meetings like AATS, STS, EACTS, ASCVS, etc. He is also a keen researcher and prolific in publishing more than 50 original articles in peer-reviewed international journals.
He is a guest reviewer for the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals, Cardiology, Indian Heart Journals, IJTCVS, and has reviewed over 160 manuscripts. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals. He currently serves as an Assistant Editor, Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Section Editor for Cardiothoracic Surgery of Indian Heart Journal. For his contributions in the field of Medicine, he was conferred A.P. Scientist Award for the year 2007.
His commitment to customized research in cardiovascular diseases to suit the needs of the Indian population prompted him to start the “Sajja Heart Foundation” which enables him to do clinical and basic science research in cardiovascular diseases.