S. Lakshminarayanan M.D.

1943 - 2014

S. LakshminarAYANAN, M.D.

Dr. Sambasiva Lakshminarayanan,

Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Washington, died June 9th after a lengthy struggle with Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia. He passed away, as he wished, in his own bed surrounded by his family. A remarkable man- brilliant, sweet, thoughtful, and caring, with a gentle and delightful sense of humor- he will be greatly missed by the many people who loved him and many others whose lives he touched.

Lakshmi, as he was known by all, was born in Madras (Chennai) on July 2, 1943. A brilliant and precocious student, he was admitted early to the University of Delhi and then was selected to attend the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences, graduating at the top of his class at age 21. After a year's postgraduate clinical training at AIIMS, he became an internal medicine resident at Queen Mary's and Lewisham hospitals in London, achieving membership in the Royal College of Physicians in 1969, at 25 one of the youngest people to do so in the 20th Century. He began his pulmonary fellowship training at Westminster Hospital, and then transferred to the Brompton Chest Hospital, the UK's premier center for this specialty.

In 1971, at her village church in Cornwall, Lakshmi married Barbara Falconer, a nurse whom he met during his London training. Two weeks later the couple traveled to Denver, where he became a senior fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Colorado. Appointed to the faculty there the following year, Lakshmi was subsequently recruited to the University of Washington in Seattle, where in 1975 he became chief of the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Seattle VA Medical Center-a position he would hold for the next 32 years.

Promoted to full professor in 1983, Lakshmi was known at the UW as a respected leader and a gifted teacher of trainees at all levels, and he gained an international reputation as a researcher and clinician. Early in his career he performed the first scientific study in patients with respiratory failure on how to predict successful liberation from mechanical ventilation, and the "weaning parameters" he established in that study have been used worldwide for 40 years. He carried out numerous studies on improving the care of patients with COPD, did one of the earliest evaluations of how survivors of the acute respiratory distress syndrome recover over time, and was a key member of the UW research team that elucidated the function of the bronchial circulation.

Lakshmi was a brilliant, thoughtful teacher and a superb role model for students. Perhaps most of all, he was a caring, dedicated physician to his patients at the VA-including making house calls when needed-and they were uniquely devoted to him. In 2006 the UW established a special fund in his name, to further the training of fellows in pulmonary and critical care medicine in ways that are not otherwise supported. To date, nearly two dozen young physicians and scientists have been assisted in their careers by the Lakshmi Fellows Fund.

An energetic, intellectually curious, and unusually creative individual, Lakshmi pursued many interests and excelled in all. He became skilled at pottery and furnished family and friends with many vessels and other objects both useful and attractive. He also had a talent for other forms of art. He loved fireworks, to the degree that he obtained a pyrotechnician's license and for a time assisted with Port Townsend's annual 4th of July display. He was exceptionally skilled at lively conversation, and his incisive wit could never be bested despite the concerted efforts of many over the years.

More than anything else, though, Lakshmi loved and was devoted to his family. He is survived by Barbara, his wife of 43 years, by their sons Ram Iyer and Ravi Iyer, by their daughter Janaki Iyer and her husband Jheferson Castillo, all of Seattle, and by his sister and brother-in-law, Padmini and Ratnam, of Chennai, India.

An open house celebrating Lakshmi's life will be held at their residence on July 12th. Gifts in his memory may be made to "Memorials", c/o Voluntary Service (S-135); VA Puget Sound Health Care System; 1660 S Columbian Way; Seattle WA 98108. Checks should say, "In memory of S. Lakshminarayanan, GPF 9602", in the lower left corner.