Lael Anson Best, M.B.B.S., receives Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award

Lael Anson Best (CS ’88), M.B.B.S., received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, an award conferred by the president of India. The award was presented in Haifa, Israel, by His Excellency Pavan Kapoor, India’s ambassador to Israel.

The annual Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award is the highest honor conferred on overseas Indians. The award is presented to non-resident Indians, persons of Indian origin, or organizations or institutions established and run by non-resident Indians or persons of Indian origin in recognition of outstanding achievements in India and abroad. Dr. Best is the third person from Israel to receive the award.

Dr. Best is a consultant in general thoracic surgery and a clinical associate professor at Rambam Medical Center and Health Care Campus in Haifa. He was head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Rambam from 1989 to 2014, and chief of surgery from 2005 to 2012.

Dr. Best was born in Mumbai, India, in 1951, and grew up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in surgery (B.J. Medical College) at the University of Gujarat, India. He immigrated to Israel in 1979 and joined the Rambam Medical Center as a resident in cardiothoracic surgery. He then completed a clinical fellowship in thoracic surgery at Mayo Clinic School of Graduate Medical Education in Rochester, Minnesota.

“It is a great honor to be recognized by your home country where you were born and educated,” says Dr. Best. “Leaving a sheltered home and making a name for oneself in an unknown country was not easy, but I enjoyed the challenge.”

Dr. Best is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and a fellow of the International College of Surgeons, American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Surgery and Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (International Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons).