Local Physician Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on November 8, 2019
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI

Dr. Mangalore J. Subba Rao was recently presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Medical Association of Northwest Indiana.

The award was given to Dr. Subba Rao for “providing outstanding service in the field of General Surgery” for 25 years and for his service to the community.

Dr. Subba Rao is a member of the La Porte Physician Network, and is on the medical staff of La Porte Hospital.  He has been a member of the Starke Hospital medical staff for 26 years and is the medical staff president.

In a press release submitted by hospital officials, Dr. Subba Rao attended Government Medical College in Indiana where he obtained his M.B.B.S. degree.  While there he won intercollegiate championship in wrestling. After graduation, he joined Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and taught Anatomy for the medical and dental students for two years.

It goes on to say that he moved to Ireland and joined University of Cork Medical School and taught Anatomy to medical and dental students there before joining the residency training program in General Surgery and Orthopedics in Belfast, Northern Ireland and London, England. At the end of the residency program, he passed the Board examination in surgery and successfully obtained Fellowship in the Royal College of Surgeons in 1981.  He worked in Brook General Hospital as an Orthopedic Surgeon in Woolwich, London England for a brief period of time before moving to the U.S.

Dr. Subba Rao came to New York and joined the residency program in General Surgery at Albert Einstein Affiliated Hospitals in Bronx, New York. At the completion of his residency he successfully passed the American Board of Surgery exam, became board certified in Surgery and was named a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons, according to the release.

Following his General Surgery residency in New York, Dr. Subba Rao relocated to Illinois where he was Staff Surgeon at the V.A. in Danville, Illinois and Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.  While teaching at the University of Illinois, he won the prestigious “Raymond B. Allen Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching and Highest Professional Ideals” for the 1992-1993 school year. This award was given for his skill in teaching surgery to final year medical students and surgical residents.

In 1993, Dr. Subba Rao started his private practice as a General Surgeon at Starke Hospital in Knox, according to hospital officials. He later joined the La Porte Physician Network.  In addition to being an active member of the Knox medical community, he has been involved in the Indian American Cultural Center and the Indian Medical Association.