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The American Diabetes Association will present the Vivian Fonseca Scholar Award for the first time to Vijay Viswanathan, MD, PhD, FRCP. This new award, given in memory of Mr. P. Nagendran and funded by a grant from Suku Nagendran, MD, and Anne Nagendran, will promote and recognize diabetes research focused on South Asian or Asian American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (AANHPI) populations and/or research by a scientist from South Asia or the AANHPI population. The researcher can be located anywhere in the world and can belong to any ethnic group. It recognizes the contributions of Vivian Fonseca, MD, the Association’s 2012 President, Medicine & Science, who in his years of volunteer service to the organization has been a mentor and role model to many researchers and clinicians. Dr. Viswanathan will be recognized with this honor at the Association’s 73^rd Scientific Sessions^®, taking place June 21-25, 2013, at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.

Dr. Viswanathan is the head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research, Education and Training in Diabetes in Tamil Nadu, India. He is also the Chief Diabetologist at the Centre. He has organized five international conferences about diabetes foot care and has trained more than 2,000 physicians in preventing amputations related to diabetes. Dr. Viswanathan has published more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed international and national journals on the topics of kidney disease and amputations as they related to diabetes.

He received his MD in Internal Medicine and was awarded the gold medal during his final examination. He was awarded the PhD in Medicine at Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Madras, in Tamil Nadu, India, on the study of diabetic neuropathy in type 2 diabetes. He was appointed to adjunct professor at the university in 2010. Dr. Viswanathan is the secretary of the Diabetic Foot Society of India. 

More than 14,000 top scientists, physicians and other health care professionals from around the world will share the latest cutting-edge research and learn the most up-to-date information on prevention, treatment and care, at Scientific Sessions taking place June 21-25, 2013.