April 2019 digital edition

Dr. Maurice Lev and
Dr. Saroja Bharati
(File photo)
jars in the wide array of galleries in the
museum — guarded with an ornate
wooden door — span the embryonic to
the adult to the old. Perhaps, Lucy is
there to symbolize the first tick of the
human heart on the planet.
Rare Collection
Opened in 2013, India’s first of its kind
museum centers around the laudable
and exquisite life work of Dr. Maurice
Lev and Dr. Saroja Bharati, Director
and Professor of Pathology, Rush
Medical University, Chicago, who have
spent many decades on the most
systematic and accurate study of the
heart with a precise and comprehensive
documentation of diseases of all age
groups. Later, they concentrated almost
exclusively on congenital heart disease
in children, according to the Museum
director Dr Sarasa Bharati.
“These hearts were collected since
the 1970s by them for their extensive
This monumental work
is of great value to all
those treating heart
disease, i.e., both
cardiac surgeons and
physicians and certainly
all pathologists.
Dr Sarasa Bharati
Director, Maurice Lev and
Saroja Bharati Cardiac Museum
study on various cardiac diseases. We
have specimens of hearts here with all
cardiac diseases across age groups,” she
added.
The museum is set up within
Frontier Mediville, a 360 acre medical
village located about 50 km away from
Chennai. It is promoted by Frontier
Lifeline Hospital and Dr KM Cherian
Heart Foundation.
Located at Gummidipundi in
Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, it is the
only museum in the world with such a
vast collection of hearts.
“It is the largest collection of
cardiac pathology anywhere in the
country, possibly even the world,” said
Dr Cherian, chairman, Frontier Lifeline
Hospital and Frontier Mediville, in a
recent interview.
“It is the result of two major events.
The first is the donation of the entire
collection of biological heart specimens
by Dr Maurice Lev and Dr. Saroja Bharati,
April 2019 / FUTURE MEDICINE / 77