K. M. Cherian is a leading Indian heart surgeon who has pioneered new treatments, founded new hospitals and earned an international reputation. He is the founding chairman of Frontier Lifeline in Chennai, and the Dr K M Cherian Heart Foundation.

He performed India’s first successful Coronary Artery bypass surgery in 1975. He also performed the country’s first heart transplant after legalization of brain death. The first Heart- Lung Transplant, the first Paediatric Transplant and the first TMR (Laser Heart Surgery) were also performed by him.

Dr. K.M. Cherian was the honorary surgeon to the President of India from 1990 to 1993. He received a Wockhardt Medical Excellence Award in 2005, through a panel organised by Harvard Medical School. He is the first Indian to become the President of the World Congress of Thoracic Cardiac Surgeon and the first member of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery from India.