About Doctor

Dr K R Balakrishnan is one of India s leading cardiothoracic surgeons and heart-lung transplant specialists with over 30 years of experience in his expert hands. Having a record of completing over 503 heart transplants, he is one of the most renowned surgeons in the industry. Dr Balakrishnan has been bestowed the honour of the prestigious Hiralal Gold Medal to acknowledge his excellence in the field of surgery. Throughout his career, he has contributed to the medical community through the publication of multiple articles, book chapters and presentations at numerous national and international conferences.

A graduate from KEM Hospital, University of Bombay, Dr K R Balakrishnan has mastered an evidence-based approach to healthcare practices and refined clinical expertise in surgery. His areas of expertise include end-stage heart failure management (heart transplant & VAD implant), paediatric cardiac surgery, lung transplant, and heart and lung transplant. He has received numerous awards for his work and his work has been published in some of the highest-ranking medical journals.

A pioneer in his field, Dr Balakrishnan performed the first permanent artificial heart transplant in India with HeartMate II LVAD and has performed the largest number of heart transplants in India. Alongside his team of specialists, comprising cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and cardiac anaesthetists and critical care physicians, he has performed over 16,000 cardiac surgeries for various types of heart diseases and disorders. He has also gained international recognition for overseeing the first paediatric heart transplant surgery in India which was performed on a two-year nine-month-old patient from Russia. He successfully carried out a heart transplant on a 78-year-old in Chennai – possibly the oldest individual in the city to undergo a heart transplant, demonstrating his prowess in the field of cardiology.