Panangipalli Venugopal is an Indian Cardiovascular surgeon and hospital administrator from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India who is widely regarded as a pioneer in cardiac surgery. The Government of India honored him, in 1998, with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the field of Medicine. Life sketch Venogopal was born at Rajahmundry in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, on 6 July 1942. He enrolled at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, in 1959 to secure his MBBS and continued his higher education at the institute itself. His first post graduate degree was the Master of Surgery (MS) which was followed by MCh in cardiovascular thoracic surgery, which he passed with honors. In 1970-71, subsequent to his specialization, he joined the Faculty of AIIMS. the major part of his career was spent at AIIMS where he rose progressively, serving as the professor, the Head of the Department and then the Dean, before reaching the post of the Director, the highest academic position on offer at AIIMS, on 1 July 2003. Soon after joining AIIMS, Venugopal participated in two advanced training programs, an adult Open Heart Surgery training under Denton Cooley at the Texas Heart Institute and paediatric open heart surgery under S. Subramanian, at the Children's Hospital, Buffalo, New York following which he launched the open heart surgery clinic at AIIMS, under the guidance of Professor N. Gopinath, in 1974. This was followed by the establishment of the Cardiothoracic Sciences Centre, where he performed the first heart transplantation in India on 3 August 1994 and, later, for the first time in Asia, the implantation of the Left Ventricular Assist Device After retirement from AIIMS, Venugopal, moved to the Alchemist Institute of Medical Sciences, in Gurgaon, Haryana as the head of the Cardithoracic department. He got married at the age of 55 and has a daughter. Achievements Venugopal has pioneered heart transplant surgery in India, having performed the first successful heart transplant in the country, the count now standing at 26 transplants. He performed the first implantation of left ventricular assist device, lasting for more than 90 days, in Asia. He introduced the stem cell therapy, for the first time in India, by the deployment of autologous stem cell implantation for repairing the myocardium as an alternative to transplantation, which he did on 26 patients. He pioneered the stem cell implantation