LAUSR

Dr. Sanjiv Bhatia passed away on May 24, 2018, after a brief illness. Sanjiv was a beloved father, husband, teacher, and pediatric neurosurgeon at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and the University of Miami/Holtz Children’s Hospital. Sanjiv was born, raised, and educated in India by parents that emphasized education and service to others. He attended the prestigious All India Institute of Medicine (AIIMS) for medical school and his neurosurgery residency, completing his training in 1986. He then joined the faculty at AIIMS and practiced general neurosurgery with a special interest in epilepsy surgery. He left India to spend two years at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda to do research in PET and MR imaging in patients with epilepsy. Drawn to the USA as the land of opportunity, he took a clinical position at the Boston VA, where he practiced general neurosurgery from 1997 to 2000. Wanting to stay and practice in the USA and become ABNS certified, he came to the University ofMiami (UM) in 2000 as a neurosurgery resident, staying on at the University of Miami where he was also the first pediatric neurosurgery fellow at the Miami Children’s/ University of Miami fellowship. Sanjiv was adored by his fellow residents for his fatherly mentoring and was known affectionately as “Uncle Sanjiv.” He was certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Pediatric Neurological Surgery, in addition to being a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Sanjiv joined the faculty in 2004 and because of his extraordinary skill, clinical acumen, dedicated teaching, and academic productivity was promoted to the rank of Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics in 2016. He was recognized nationally and internationally for his expertise in pediatric epilepsy surgery, on which he published extensively and was a frequent invited lecturer. He was a reviewer for several journals and a regular contributor to the neurosurgical literature. Sanjiv was active in many administrative and committee positions at both the University of Miami and at the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, most notably as the Chief of the Department of Surgery and Director of the Operating Room at the Children’s Hospital. He could be counted on to be the calming voice of reason that could quell most any challenge. The lessons of service to others and kindness to all, taught by John Ragheb [email protected]; [email protected]