Dr. Sanjay Datta

Dear Friends, With sadness I share the loss of our husband, father, grandfather, friend, colleague, mentor, and Harvard Medical School Professor, Sanjay Datta MBBS, who passed away early Tuesday morning. Sanjay was born in Dacca, India, a city flourishing with dhaka trees, whose bright orange flame-like flowers have been likened to fire. Indeed, Sanjay personified this form of energy in his passionate exuberance for his work and life. Sanjay's peripatetic education brought him from India (MBBS, Calcutta University) to England (Diplomate in Anaesthesia, Royal College of England), Canada (Research Fellow, McGill University) and the United States (Research Fellow, Harvard University). Appointed as an Instructor in Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School in 1975, Sanjay's prodigious basic and clinical research, clinical leadership, and international involvement enabled his matriculation in 1992 to Full Professor. Sanjay served on a number of committees, including those within the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the New England Perinatology Society, the Association of University Anesthesiologists, and his major devotion, the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, a group for which he served as president in 1991. The author of more than 175 scientific articles and scholarly contributions, Sanjay served on a number of editorial boards, and created four well-respected textbooks. Many of these textbooks are now in their 4th editions, and have been translated into a number of foreign languages: Common Problems in Obstetric Anesthesia, Textbook of Obstetric Anesthesia, Anesthetic and Obstetric Management of High-Risk Pregnancy, and Obstetric Anesthesia Handbook. He was particularly proud of the High-Risk Pregnancy textbook, which entwined chapter authors from multiple branches of medicine to integrate their often disparate, specialty-specific guidance. Sanjay also wrote a book for the lay audience, entitled Childbirth and Pain Relief. Within the Harvard Medical School community, Sanjay was best known for his work within the Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he created a world renowned division of obstetric anesthesia, as its Director from 1988-2000; he also served as the Chief of Obstetric Anesthesia for Clinical Teaching and Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital, from 1994-1996. In a broader service to medicine, Sanjay conceived and developed the short handled laryngoscope, which has been used globally throughout a spectrum of medical specialties and can be found in emergency airway kits, anesthesia carts, and procedure rooms. Sanjay was the recipient of a number of research grants from industry, foundations, and governmental agencies, including the National Institutes of Health. He was recognized with a number of awards, visiting professorships, and international lectureships; he was the first "August Bier" lecturer at the European Society of Anesthesia in 1997, and was presented the "Distinguished Service Award" by the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology in 2009. Sanjay had many interests and enjoyed listening to Indian and select pieces of classical music (Handel's Messiah being a favorite), cheering for New England sports teams and succumbing to the frustrations of golf. He is survived by his wife, Gouri (Dasgupta) Datta; his daughter, Nandini Roy and her husband, Arjun, of Watertown; his grandchildren, Dhruv and Ravi Roy and his brother, Bejoy Datta, of India. Family and friends will honor and remember Sanjay's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Friday, March 14th from 4 to 8 p.m. and again on Saturday afternoon when his Life Celebration service will be held at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers or gifts of remembrance, the family has requested that donations be sent to the Sanjay Datta Educational Fund, Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, 6737 West Washington Street, Suite 1300, Milwaukee WI 53214.