On October 8th, 2005, Dr. Sowmya Viswanathan received a most unusual birthday gift in the mail. The contents of the envelope named her a Hind Rattan Award winner, a prestigious award given by the NRI society of India that recognizes 30 select professionals from the world annually and honors non-resident Indians for their outstanding achievements and significant contributions to the society. To Dr Viswanathan, it was indeed a rare honor for her contribution to the field. On receiving the award at a spectacular ceremony in New Delhi, India on January 25th, 2006, Dr Viswanathan from UMass Memorial Health Care described it as a wonderful experience. “ It gave me a chance to speak out, interact with other awardees in various other fields and help understand how NRI’s here can contribute to their native country” she said.  Dr.Viswanathan completed her Internal Medicine Residency training at Boston University Residency Program following which she was elected as the Chief Medical Resident for the same program in the year 1995-1996. She subsequently joined the UMass Memorial Health Care, Worcester and is currently practicing Internal Medicine / Primary Care. Dr. Viswanathan is the Medical Director of Interim Health Care which is a Home Health Care/ VNA organization. She was also the Medical Director of Westborough Health Care Center, a Nursing Rehabilitation facility of Vencore Group. She was awarded the “Best Teacher Award” at UMass Medical Center in 1999-2000.In the year 2002, she also received the “Outstanding Community Educator Award” from Senator. Harriette L.Chandler who is also the Chairwoman of the Joint Committee of Public Services. Dr. Viswanathan has been an active Teaching Staff Physician at UMass Memorial Hospital; a member of the “Curriculum Committee” responsible for setting the medical education at UMass Memorial. Also a member of “American Medical Association” and “Massachusetts Medical Society”. One of her major interests has been bringing outstanding and deserving Indian medical students to this country.  While she was at the Boston Medical Center, she had the opportunity to aide several medical students from India to seek medical residency positions here in USA. Says Vishwanathan “There are excellent students in India who would like to tap the vast resources here. Similarly, I wanted the hospitals in the US to be aware of the rich medical background of students from Indian Medical Schools”. Many of these students were unknown to her. One student who came here and is now a successful doctor was a medical student who she had met at a grocery store in Chennai and happened to learn through a casual conversation that she was a student in  medicine.She has seen many changes in the influx of students through the years and believes that this exchange is good for both the countries. “Until recently, everybody termed US the ‘Mecca of medicine’ and people came from all over the world to avail its vast opportunities. But, now the medical infrastructure in countries like India is improving and in some cases excelling in the world of medicine and there is a comfort level that people here feel for the doctors and medical care in India”. Radiology services for instance is already being outsourced to India and it wont be long before other services will be shared, she feels. Presently however, Viswanathan is excited about  the potential of “Medical Globalization”. She strongly feels, just as IT industry and also the Management industry which are now in the wave of going “global”; Medical Globalization is not lagging far behind. In a recent talk that she attended on Medical Globalization at the Mass Medical Society, the issue came up whether insurance companies will cover medical costs outside of the US. According to Dr Viswanathan, the participants agreed that the insurance companies will have to eventually cover the costs and have affiliations with Indian Hospitals. “It is happening in California where patients go to Mexico for treatment”. In the case of India, Medical Globalization is seen in the kind of collaboration wherein a MOU was signed with Johns Hopkins and Apollo Hospitals in India. Universities like Harvard, Duke and UMass are continuously exploring opportunities and collaborating in research and Health Care. She admits that her own interest in this platform of medical exchange is just the beginning. Inspite of a demanding career, and a mother of two growing boys, she would still like to find time to bridge the gap between India and the NRI abroad. To her, the award gives her a sort of validity and a purpose to pursue the rich source of “medical opportunities” which lies in India – be it in Academia, Research or Health Care systems Management.

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