Jacob Chandy

Jacob Chandy was born on 23 January 1910, in Kottayam, in the south Indian state of Kerala to an Anglican Syrian Christian family. In 1945, he received a fellowship from the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) and continued to practice surgery till 1948. After obtaining a fellowship from the Royal College of Surgeons, Canada (FRCS), also in 1948, Chandy moved to Chicago to take up duties as the chief resident at the University of Chicago. It was during this time that Chandy was invited by Robert Greenhill Cochrane, medical missionary and Leprologist, to join the Christian Medical College, Vellore (CMC), a fledgling medical college at that time. During his association with CMC, Chandy held various posts such as the professor of neurology and neurosurgery and the medical superintendent; he was the principal when he retired in 1970. Chandy died on 23 June 2007, leaving behind his wife, Accamma, a daughter, also named Accamma, and two sons, Mathew and Varghese, the former a neurosurgeon and MNI fellow, and the latter, a chemical engineer. ==Legacy==

Chandy's legacy lives through the numerous practitioners of neurosurgery who have contributed their services to the development of neurosurgery in India. He assisted many medical practitioners to get advanced training at the Montreal Neurological Institute, such as J. C. Jacob and G. M. Taori in neurology, Sushil Chandi in neuropathology, and Elizabeth Mammen and S. Sarojini in neurosurgical nursing. who founded the neurochemistry laboratory, which identified the enzymopathy of metachromatic leucodystrophy, in collaboration with James H. Austin. He founded the Neurological Society of India in 1951, along with B. Ramamurthi, Baldev Singh and S. T. Narasimhan. He was the first surgeon in India to perform an epilepsy surgery on 25 August 1952, on a patient suffering from right infantile hemiplegia and medially refractory seizures. ==Awards and recognitions==

Chandy was honoured by several institutions, organisations, and governmental bodies during his career. • Professor emeritus of the Government of Kerala – 1970 • Padmabhushan – 1964 • Medal of Honour by the World Congress of Neurological Surgeons – 1989 • Founder and president of the Neurological Society of India • Member – Medical Education Committee of the Ministry of Health, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences • Member – Medical Education Committee of the Indian Council of Medical Research • Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) Fellow • He was also the founding member of many neurology related societies in India. ==Autobiography==

After his retirement from active practice, Chandy wrote his autobiography in 1988, titled Reminiscences and Reflections, with several anecdotes from his professional and personal life. ==References==