The prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman was awarded to Professor Lael Anson E. Best earlier this year by the President of India. This week the award was personally handed over to him by India's ambassador to Israel.
H.S. Pavan Kapoor, Ambassador of India
to Israel hands the award over to
Professor Best.
Photgrapher: Pioter Best.
Professor Lael Anson E. Best, the recently retired Director of the Department of Chest Surgery at Rambam, was recently awarded the 2017 Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Government of India. India’s highest award for non-resident citizens in their field of expertise, the ceremony was held at Rambam Health Care Campus as an extension of the official ceremony held in Bengaluru earlier this year (which Professor Best was unable to attend), in the presence of the President of India. H.S. Pavan Kapoor, the Ambassador of India to Israel, handed the award over to Professor Best, in acknowledgement of Best’s invaluable contributions and achievements in the field of surgery.
Born in Gujarat India, Best immigrated to Israel in 1979 at the age of 38—already a senior surgeon in his field. Since his father was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in a medical school in India, Best spent many fruitful hours studying there. From there, he studied in Ahmedabad, in eastern India north of Bombay and completed his specialization at the University Hospital of Gujarat and completed his training in chest surgery at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in the United States.
Since coming to Israel at the age of 38, Professor Best has treated thousands of patients with challenging chest problems; he has developed new treatment methods, written numerous articles, and is internationally renowned for his expertise in chest surgery. He headed the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Rambam for 25 years, and is the third person in Israel to receive the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award.