Dr. Jose Chacko Periappuram, Padma Shri & Padma Bhushan
Cardiothoracic Surgeon & Pioneer of Heart Transplantation in Kerala
A patient’s family once asked him after a complex transplant, “Doctor, how do you stay calm when a life hangs on every stitch?”
Dr. Jose Chacko Periappuram replied quietly, “Every heart we repair or replace carries someone’s hope. We prepare thoroughly, work as a team, and remember that the patient trusts us with their second chance at life. That trust keeps us focused.”
That sense of responsibility has guided his three-and-a-half decades in cardiac surgery.
Jose Chacko Periappuram was born on 28 April 1958 in South Paravur (Ernakulam district), Kerala, to P. M. Chacko (a botanist and later principal of St. Thomas College, Pala) and Mary Chacko. He completed his early education at St. Ephraim’s High School, Mannanam, and graduated with a first-rank BSc in Botany from St. Thomas College, Pala (University of Kerala) in 1978. He then obtained his MBBS from Government Medical College, Kottayam, in 1985.
He went to Ireland and the United Kingdom for higher training, earning fellowships from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Glasgow and London (FRCS). During this period he was part of the heart-transplant team at Mater Hospital, Dublin.
On returning to Kerala he joined Medical Trust Hospital, Kochi. On 13 May 2003 he led the team that performed Kerala’s first successful heart transplant. He later achieved several more firsts in the state and country:
- First successful heart re-transplant in India (2014)
- First heart-lung transplant in Kerala
- Pioneering beating-heart (off-pump) coronary artery bypass, awake bypass and total arterial revascularisation surgeries in Kerala
- Early use of air ambulance for organ transport in the state
He has performed more than 20,000 open-heart surgeries and around 30 thoracic organ transplants—the highest number in Kerala. He currently heads the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Lisie Heart Institute, Kochi.
In 2006 he founded the Heart Care Foundation, a charitable trust that has supported heart surgeries for hundreds of economically weaker patients across government medical colleges in Kerala under initiatives such as “1000 Hearts, 1000 Lives, 1000 Families.”
The Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri in 2011 and the Padma Bhushan in 2025 for his distinguished service in medicine. He has also received the Mother Teresa Award, Indira Gandhi Award and several professional and social recognitions.
Even after decades of high-stakes surgery, Dr. Periappuram continues to emphasise teamwork, organ-donation awareness and accessible cardiac care.
“I could have practised anywhere,” he has said, “but I chose to stay in Kerala and serve the people here. Every successful transplant is a collective achievement of donors, families, nurses, technicians and doctors.”
From a small village in Ernakulam to performing Kerala’s first heart transplant and India’s first heart re-transplant, Dr. Jose Chacko Periappuram has transformed advanced cardiac surgery in his home state and given new life to hundreds of patients.
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