Gullapalli Nageswara Rao

At the age of three he was sent to his maternal uncle living in Edupagallu village near to Vijayawada. ==Education and career==

After completing his MBBS at Guntur Medical College in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, Rao completed his postgraduate residency training in ophthalmology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He has received the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from the University of Melbourne, the Honor Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, International Blindness Prevention Award from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the AEBA Award from the Association of Eye Bank of Asia. Rao has served the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness as a board member, the secretary general (1998) and the president (2004) on various occasions. Apart from training abroad, he is also serving as visiting professor at several universities in the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. As of 2020, Rao has published more than 300 papers in peer reviewed national and international journals and has served on the editorial boards of several journals. He has five honorary doctorates from Australia, United Kingdom and India. ==Awards and honours==

• 2012: Padma Shree • 2017: Included in the Ophthalmology Hall of Fame at the meeting of American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), Los Angeles. • World Cornea Congress Medal from International Cornea Society for outstanding contribution to the field of cornea • 1996: Fellowship of the National Academy of Medical Sciences, India • 2006: International Blindness Prevention Award, by the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology ==References==