Dr. Praveen Varma

Dr. Praveen Varma completed his MBBS in 1992 and MS General Surgery in 1996 from Calicut Medical College, Kerala. He completed MCh from Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum in 2000. Then, he joined Medical College, Trivandrum as Lecturer in Cardiac Surgery. He worked as Assistant Professor in Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum till 2005.
Then he joined as Resident in Cardio Thoracic Surgery at Boston Medical Center, Boston University and he also served as Chief Resident till 2008. At BMC, he gained more experience in CABGs, Mitral Valve Repair and surgeries for Aortic root.
He worked as senior clinical fellow Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School for 2 years. At Brigham, he gained experience in Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Repair and AVR, complex reoperation surgeries, Heart Failure surgeries including Transplantation and Ventricular Assist Device placement.
He was appointed as Additional Professor in Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum by the senior staff selection committee.
He is currently working as the Professor and Head of the Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Kochi. His specific areas of interest are beating heart CABG, Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation correction, Mitral valve and Tricuspid valve repair, extended septal myectomy for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, surgery for infective endocarditis and Heart Transplantation. He has been actively involved in resident education.
He is also a reviewer for numerous journals and is also the Editorial Board member of Annals of Cardiac Anesthesia. He has co-authored close to 125 publications in various journals.

Patents

• Menon D, Joseph J, Varma P, Nair S. Strong, flexible, and thrombus-free woven nanotextile based vascular grafts, and method of production thereof, US Patent 2021
• Rangasamy J, Sundaram NM, Mony U, Varma PK. Hemostatic agent and method of production thereof. (US20220054529A1) Reference No: 202041035602- Patent filed on 18 Aug 2020. The Patent Office Journal No. 08/2022 Dated 25/02/2022
• Rangasamy J, Sundaram NM, Mony U, Varma PK. Hemostatic agent and method of production thereof (Patent No.508118) Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham-Patent filed on 18 Aug 2020. Granted on 7 Feb 2024

Grants and Projects

• Translational Clot-activatable drenching nanoparticles to dissolve the clot and reinstate the perfusion: Demonstrated in pre-clinical rat model. (ICMR project, 2023- ongoing)
• Development of hemostatic agent for application in trauma in vascular surgery (ICMR project, 2022- ongoing)
• Thematic projects on frontiers of Nanosciences and Technology (TPF-Nano) Funding agency: Department of Sciences and Technology, Govt of India (completed)
• Long-term evaluation of TTK Chitra(TM) heart valve prosthesis- A retrospective prospective cohort study- ICMR funded-Principal Investigator – (2019-2022) Completed
• Flow cytometry in the early detection of sepsis (2018-2021)
• Bioadhesive, Hemostatic, and Antibacterial in situ Chitin-Fibrin Nanocomposite gel for Controlling Bleeding & Preventing Infections at Mediastinum (2018-2020)
• Nano Engineered Vascular graft: large animal trial (2018-2020)
• Nano Engineered Vascular patch application (2019-2021)
• Onsite PI -Preserve Prospective REgistry to Study Clinical OutcomEs of Repair of Mitral ValvEs in South Asia, Post-Market Registry, India (2018-2021)- Medtronic Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Onsite PI-Phase 3 clinical trial of Dafodil™ – 1 (2018-2020)-Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd, Gujarat, India
• Onsite PI -Coronary Trial (On-pump vs. off-pump CABG) (2014-2016) - Results published in NEJM
• Onsite PI-Steroids In CaRdiac Surgery (SIRS) Trial (2007-2014) by Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), Hamilton, Canada­
• Development of Homograft Bank (2002-2004) - Pilot study-STEK Sponsored
• Co-Investigator, Homograft Project (2003 -2004), Project grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology
• Associate Investigator in animal experiments, unicentric and multicentric trials for the development of membrane oxygenator (1999-2004)
• Chief Investigator. Data Base for valve surgery. Project Grant from Edward Lifesciences
• Translational Clot-activatable drenching nanoparticles to dissolve the clot and reinstate the perfusion: Demonstrated in pre-clinical rat model. (ICMR project, 2023- ongoing)
• Development of hemostatic agent for application in trauma in vascular surgery (ICMR project, 2022- ongoing)
• Thematic projects on frontiers of Nanosciences and Technology (TPF-Nano) Funding agency: Department of Sciences and Technology, Govt of India (completed)
• Long-term evaluation of TTK Chitra(TM) heart valve prosthesis- A retrospective prospective cohort study- ICMR funded-Principal Investigator – (2019-2022) Completed
• Flow cytometry in the early detection of sepsis (2018-2021)
• Bioadhesive, Hemostatic, and Antibacterial in situ Chitin-Fibrin Nanocomposite gel for Controlling Bleeding & Preventing Infections at Mediastinum (2018-2020)
• Nano Engineered Vascular graft: large animal trial (2018-2020)
• Nano Engineered Vascular patch application (2019-2021)
• Onsite PI -Preserve Prospective REgistry to Study Clinical OutcomEs of Repair of Mitral ValvEs in South Asia, Post-Market Registry, India (2018-2021)- Medtronic Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Onsite PI-Phase 3 clinical trial of Dafodil™ – 1 (2018-2020)-Meril Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd, Gujarat, India
• Onsite PI -Coronary Trial (On-pump vs. off-pump CABG) (2014-2016) - Results published in NEJM
• Onsite PI-Steroids In CaRdiac Surgery (SIRS) Trial (2007-2014) by Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), Hamilton, Canada­
• Development of Homograft Bank (2002-2004) - Pilot study-STEK Sponsored
• Co-Investigator, Homograft Project (2003 -2004), Project grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology
• Associate Investigator in animal experiments, unicentric and multicentric trials for the development of membrane oxygenator (1999-2004)
• Chief Investigator. Data Base for valve surgery. Project Grant from Edward Lifesciences

Reviewer

Cardiothoracic Journals

• European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
• Journal of Cardiac Surgery
• Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals
• Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
• BMC Cardiovascular Disorders
• Annals of Thoracic Surgery
• Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery
• American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs
• Annals of Cardiac Anaesthesia

Cardiology

• Journal of the American Heart Association
• International Journal of Cardiology
• Atherosclerosis and Vascular Biology
• Global Heart
• Future Cardiology
• MDPI Journals
• Frontiers Group
• Nature Scientific reports

Material Journals

• ACS Applied Bio Materials
• Materials Today 

Editorial Board

• Annals of Cardiac Anaesthesia
• Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (Associate Editor)

Professional Memberships

• Indian Medical Association
• CTSNet
• Society for Heart Failure and Transplantation
• IACTS | Indian Association of Cardiovascular-Thoracic Surgeons
• Society of Coronary Surgeons

Additional Professional Activities

• Member, Hospital Transfusion Committee (2003 -2004).
• Member, six-sigma project (2002).
• Co-Investigator, Homograft Project (2003 -2004), Project grant from Ministry of Science and Technology.
• Associate Investigator in animal experiments, unicentric and multicentric trial for development of membrane oxygenator (1999-2004).
• Blood Conservation in Valvular Heart Diseases (2002-2003).
• Chief Investigator. Data Base for valve surgery. Project Grant from Edward Life Sciences.
• Member Board of studies for cardiac surgery, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum (2010-2012). Revised the curriculum, developed teaching modules and evaluation protocol for Cardio-Thoracic Residents.
• Program-in-Charge, Division of Cardiac Surgery, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum (2011- 2012).
• Member of following committees:
  • Junior staff selection (2010-13).
  • Resident Selection (2010-13).
  • Clinical Perfusionist Selection (2010-12).
  • Guidelines for Doctors in their relation to Industries and Pharma’s- Report submitted 2011.
  • Revision of working hours for employees-Report submitted in 2012.