Dr. Murthy Named a “Global Champion”

CHICAGO MEDICAL Society President Vemuri Murthy, MD, was honored with a Congressional Medal by U.S. Reps. Danny K. Davis and Peter J. Roskam for his efforts to improve survival outcomes for victims of sudden cardiac arrest. As the “Global Champion of Resuscitation,” Dr. Murthy has made it his life’s mission to enhance global resuscitation outcomes with ongoing community education and training.

The Congressional Medal was presented during the Annual Gala Banquet of the Indian American Medical Association, Illinois, on Nov. 17.

Dr. Murthy is a longtime resuscitation educator and trainer, international volunteer of the American Heart Association for more than three decades, and current faculty member in the
emergency medicine department at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“I am deeply humbled to receive this honor,” Dr. Murthy said. “I believe it recognizes the efforts of millions of global volunteers and many organizations such as the American Heart Association that dedicate themselves to saving precious lives that would otherwise be lost to sudden cardiac arrest.”

Dr. Murthy is founder of the Chicago Medical Society’s Community CPR awareness Project SMILE (Saving More Illinois Lives through Education). The project has trained congressmen, state and county legislators, and consul-generals of the Chicago Consular Corps. He is also chairman of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin Global CPR Ad Hoc Committee.