title: Rustom Jal Vakil: his contributions to cardiology.
abstract: Rustom Jal Vakil returned to India in 1938 after earning his medical degree from the University of London and focused on the treatment of heart ailments at a time when cardiology was not a distinct subspecialty in India. In 1949, after years of scrupulous collation and analysis of data, he published a watershed paper on the antihypertensive properties of Rauwolfia serpentina and effected a paradigm shift in the management of hypertension. Rauwolfia was the world's 1st successful blood-pressure-lowering agent, and its acceptance encouraged research scientists to pursue the development of other hypotensive drugs. Vakil was a prolific researcher whose contributions to Indian cardiovascular epidemiology--and to the whole of medical literature--were enormous. He was also a fine clinician with a remarkable gift for communication, be it with his patients, students, peers, or the lay public. All of this came together to make him the embodiment of a medically competent India.
authors.affiliation: All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India. sumitisharwal@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Sumit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Isharwal
authors.forename: Shubham
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D002309:Cardiology / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000266:history*; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011926:Rauwolfia
chemical_list: D028321:Plant Preparations