US-INDIA GLOBAL REVIEW JUL-SEP 2020

32 US-INDIA GLOBAL REVIEW JULY-SEPTEMBER 2020 There’s more to Dr. Vijay, though. He’s a brilliant innovator and scientist too. He’s written and published dozens of research papers, given a TED talk, and co- invented and patented a miniatur- ized heart lung machine circuit which required no blood transfu- sions and cost a fraction of the price of a conventional circuit; made open heart surgery very affordable for the common man. Dr. Vijay is also the founder and Chief Medical Officer of the Institute for Artificial Gravity, which is exploring and doing researching space pursuits. In a phone inter- view from Alaska, after he had got out of a long flight back from Wuhan, China, this week, Dr. Vijay talked to me about his passionate interest in space, and especially transportation to space, now that there is more privatization. He hopes to travel to space someday. That information spilled out after I asked him as to why he’s still a bachelor, and what he does with time he gets between flying and doing surgery. “I’ve never been married. It relieves me of certain responsibili- ties. My decision-making time is not influenced with family, children and their vacation. My time is under my control,” he explained, with a laugh. In the time he gets for himself, Dr. Vijay also indulges in partici- pating in various scientific and policy making groups online, often in touch with latest scientific hap- penings. He views crisis manage- ment as a critical skill, which he wants to hone in budding scien- tists and researchers. Dr. Vijay comes from a family of physicians, with a long lineage in medicine, and social service. His two grandfathers were felicitated by King George the 5th. His family has built hospitals in India. He emigrated to the US in 1990, after a year’s stint in the Caribbean, in Trinidad and Tobago, after he did his MBBS from India, in 1989. When he first arrived in New York City with $400 and two sets of clothes, he decided to not take the help of relatives, but sustain himself. He drove a cab for two years, driving from 7 pm to 7 am, in the Bronx. After that he would do volunteer service at a medical facility in Newark, New Jersey, before he went for his classes at medical school, in New York City. I didn’t dare ask him when he got the time to sleep. “I learnt financial independence and lived within my means,” he says, of that experience, driving a cab. “I truly feel satisfaction in giv- ing back to society. I’m doing my bit in this world.” Excerpts from an exclusive interview with Dr. Vijay, by Sujeet Rajan, Executive Editor, Parikh Worldwide Media: A pilot and a physician. For most individuals either one of those professions is just the stuff of imagination. How did this come about? Flying through the air to cross the seven seas was a fascinating concept for me since childhood. A school excursion in 1972, to the Tirupati airport with a peek inside the cockpit of an Indian Airlines Avro 40 seater turbo prop and a chat with the captain in full uni- form at the controls and the gor- geous flight attendant in a saree mesmerized me. Air India’s advertisement in a 1973 Readers Digest of its first ever Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet named Emperor Ashoka and its sheer size and complexity and its ability to fly to every continent across the oceans, consolidated my desire to be a pilot. However, my average mathe- matics skills at school and a notion that to be a pilot, one need- ed to be an aeronautical engineer made me reconsider my career move. When in eighth grade, the concept that air flow and blood flow are similar from a physics standpoint – minus the mathemat- ics – was introduced to me, I immediately turned my attention to cardiovascular biology and medicine as a career choice. America, the land of dreams, was the only place where I felt I could accomplish both goals. So my first goal became the United States, in order to accomplish my other two goals. You divide your time every month between surgery and fly- ing. Does one profession allevi- ate the pain or the stress of doing the other, or do they complement each other? Both professions are physically demanding and exhausting result- ing in cumulative stress. However, mentally they are complimentary and contrasting which helps to relieve cumulative stress. When I fly, all my problems are left on the ground which helps me to get a break and to focus and be precise and when I arrive on the ground I am recharged and ener- gized to provide the required med- ical care, compassion and emo- tional support. I’m sure you have enough anecdotes to fill books on both your professions, flying and surgery. But let’s talk about fly- ing during a pandemic to crisis- hit nations like China and else- where in Asia. What are some of the challenges you have faced? It is certainly a very unique, once in a lifetime experience. These are truly war times. The dif- ference is we know the enemy, but we don’t see it. We can prepare