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GUEST EDITORIAL
Year : 2020  |  Volume : 68  |  Issue : 9  |  Page : 1730

Father of uveitis in India: Prof. Amod Gupta


Advanced Eye Center, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

Date of Web Publication20-Aug-2020

Correspondence Address:
Vishali Gupta
Advanced Eye Center, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
India
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_2477_20

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How to cite this article:
Gupta V. Father of uveitis in India: Prof. Amod Gupta. Indian J Ophthalmol 2020;68:1730

How to cite this URL:
Gupta V. Father of uveitis in India: Prof. Amod Gupta. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 2020 [cited 2024 Mar 29];68:1730. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ijo/pages/default.aspx/text.asp?2020/68/9/1730/292558





It is indeed a humbling experience for me to write about Prof Amod Gupta, who is a teacher, mentor, father, friend, and guide to me.

When I started writing this, a famous Sanskrit shaloka, that is a tribute to teacher, just came to my mind every word in this verse truly applies to him:

”Gururbrahma gururvishnu gururdevo mahesvara

guruh saksat parabrahma tasmai sri gurave namh”

He truly exemplifies the meaning of this verse:

Guru: Guru means teacher, preceptor, remover of darkness and ignorance. Prof Amod Gupta has been instrumental in removing the ignorance about uveitis in our country. Uveitis in late 80s was synonymous with corticosteroid administration with not much effort being made to look for the underlying etiology. He was one of the first in India who made an effort to study the patterns and phenotypes of uveitis in context to Indian population and tried to remove several cobwebs about uveitis. He is indeed the teacher of teachers as the students trained by him are now leading uveitis services in several prominent places in the world and continue to carry forward his legacy.

Brahma: Brahma means the Lord of creation. Prof Gupta has truly created a lot. He created awareness about Uveitis and made it seem so interesting that myself and several others were attracted towards this subspecialty that otherwise did not have many takers in India. He along with Prof Narsing A Rao envisioned creating the Uveitis Society of India and was the founder president. This society had a humble beginning with a handful of experts. The consistent efforts and hard work by them has led to the growth of the society that has more than 500 members now and is well recognized in several international forums.

Visnu: Vishnu is the Lord of preservation. Prof Gupta made a serious effort to preserve the values of honesty, integrity, and total transparency. He made me learn the value of being brutally honest. I remember asking him a question sometimes and him saying “I don't know but lets find it.” I came from a background where teachers were supposed to know everything and would never admit it to their students if they did not know anything. So, when I heard him saying this for the first time, I truly could not believe my ears. However, over a period of time, I learned the value of honesty that was far more superior to false ego and would like to thank him for preserving these values.

Mahesvara: Mahesvara is the name of Lord Siva, one who dissolves or destroys. Prof Gupta has been instrumental in dissolving several myths and misunderstandings associated with uveitis. Learning with him was an absolute pleasure where every case was deliberated upon with lot of insights, and we would often go back to review previous cases so that we learn from our mistakes that we may have made in the past.

Saksat: Saksat means before one's eyes, clearly, visibly. In Prof Gupta's world everything was clear, visible with no grey zones. This applied both to clinical practice as well as in real-life dealings. We all love to believe that patients whom we are treating are responding to therapy. He would not take it unless there was well-documented evidence in the form of fundus photography, OCT, etc., to see clearly the response to therapy. Thus, documentation and follow-up became one of the strongest points of our department, and today we are proud of our legacy.

Parabrahma: Parabrahma means the absolute, supreme, and that is the figure he represents in uveitis.

Tasmai sri namah: unto that luster, splendor, radiance we all uveitis specialists bow.





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