17-05-2025
Coimbatore doctor honoured with Wiltse Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr. S. Rajasekaran, Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics and Spine Surgery, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, received the 'Wiltse Lifetime Achievement Award' at the annual meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS) held in Atlanta, USA, on May 15.
A press release said the award recognised his research in low back pain and disc biology.
The ISSLS brings together spine surgeons and researchers in genetics, muscle physiology, radiology, bioengineering and implant technology. The award jury, consisting of members from Japan, New Zealand, Australia and the UK, selects recipients based on nominations by scientists.
Dr. Rajasekaran was nominated by Dr. Robert Gunzberg, the chief Editor of European Spine Journal and Prof Jill Urban, eminent researcher and Professor in Oxford.
The award is in recognition of Dr. Rajasekaran and his team's contributions in the fields of nutritional pathways of the lumbar disc, the effect of mechanical stress on the discs, patterns of failure of the disc leading to herniation and more recently the role of subclinical infection as a cause of disc degeneration and low back pain. They have also recently proved that many bacteria from the gut and the skin find their way into the spinal discs and cause inflammation that lead to back pain disorders.
The Ganga Research Centre is also the first centre to be recognised by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India as an 'Advanced Centre for Molecular Research in Spinal diseases'.
Dr. Rajasekaran has published 781 papers, with an H-index of 54 and over 13,000 citations.
