Family Members

Professor Lalit Prakash Agarwal

Professor Lalit Prakash Agarwal was born on 23 January 1922 at Lucknow. He not only shared date of birth but also many qualities with the great Indian patriot Subhash ChanDr.a Bose. Like Bose he was a very proud Indian and passionate about development of India. He was firmly of the view that as our freedom fighters have got us independence through their sacrifices it was the sacred duty of his generation to respond to Nehru’s call to make India self reliant.

After finishing his MBBS from prestigious King George Medical College in 1946, he went to UK for higher education in the field of ophthalmology. He completed DOMS from Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons London and DO from Oxford in 1947 and returned to India to his alma mater to complete his MS in 1949. He joined the PMS I and served in Bijnore as Civil Surgeon. Teaching and research was his first love and he joined S N Medical College, Agra as lecturer in 1954 and moved to G S V Medical College Kanpur and soon became the Head of Department of ophthalmology. Because of the name he had earned as a teacher and researcher that he was selected to become the founder professor of the department of ophthalmology of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in 1959 at the young age of 37. Leaving Kanpur meant both he and his wife Dr. Savitri Agarwal had to give up their lucrative practice. He became a FAMS in 1961 and was one of the youngest doctors to be elected a fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences in 1962. He was a life member of International Academy of Ophthalmology.

He built the department of ophthalmology from scratch and soon made it the most prestigious department in the country. As a proud Indian he was distressed to see so many Indians go abroad for treatment. He was determined to make India self reliant in the field of ophthalmology. It was with this vision that he conceptualized and established Dr. RajenDr.a Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences. A hard task master he expected nothing but the best from his students. He was available to his students at all times. Ethics was an important part of his training to his students. The prestige enjoyed by RP Centre all over the world as the premier centre of ophthalmology is the best tribute to this visionary.

Dr. LP Agarwal was deeply conscious of the fact that paramedics had a very important role in the field of Health care. He attached great importance to their training and established the facilities for training of optometrists in R P Centre. As a young doctor in the districts of U.P. he learnt the importance of community medicine and hygiene and sanitation. He took personal interest in ensuring highest standards of cleanliness in the centre.

Recognizing his abilities as one of the most accomplished medical administrators, he was appointed Director of AIIMS in 1979. A prolific author he wrote several books and hundreds of research papers. He served on the editorial boards of the most prestigious journals of ophthalmology including Ophthalmologica and VISION dedicated to International Ophthalmology and prevention of Blindness.

Prevention of Blindness was the cause to which he was passionately committed all his life. He became the first ophthalmic advisor in the ministry of health and Drafted the first National Programme for the Prevention of Blindness in 1976. In view of his pioneering work in this field the WHO also sought his expertise for preparing the plan for prevention of blindness in Afro-Asian region. He was Vice President of the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness and later became its President. He tirelessly worked to promote the donation of cornea and set up the National Eye Bank in Rajendra Prasad Centre. As there was acute shortage of cornea in India he actively collaborated with Sri Lanka for donation of corneas to India.

He was associated in the setting up of and up gradation of a number of institutions round the country. He was the recipient of several national and international honors in the field of Ophthalmology. He remained active even after his retirement and established FOREC in order to ensure skill development among science students after school and enable them to become optometrists and paramedical assistants to ophthalmologists. He spent the last day of his life working to organize a conference on the 9th of October at the India Habitat Centre which he completed half an hour before his passing away. During the last couple of years of his life he was working on a multi volume book on ophthalmology but that alas was not to be completed. However his vision and his work live on not only in R.P. Centre but also through his students who are in senior positions all over the world.

The best tribute to this visionary would be to not only pledge our own Eyes but to motivate all our family members, relatives and friends to donate their eyes to give vision to those are deprived the experience of appreciating the beauty of nature.

Dr. Savitri Agarwal

Dr.Savitri Agarwal was an epitome of courage and determination. Born in Hamirpur a very small town of Bundelkhand (U.P.) in December 1923 she overcame all odds a girl had to face to finish Intermediate with Science in an era when there were hardly any girl’s schools and society was not very approving for a career for girls. Determined to be a doctor she joined S.N. Medical College and finished her MBBS in 1945 with Gold Medal in Gynaecology.

She became the first woman Intermediate in Science and the first woman Doctor from Bundelkhand . She did not seek any special favours as a woman and having joined the Provincial Medical Service, accepted assignments in small towns of U.P.

Married to Dr. L.P. Agarwal in 1949 she had to adjust her career for his

success. She finished her MS in Obstetrics & Gynaecology in 1954 from SN Medical College. Determined to scale greater heights, Dr. Savitri Agarwal went to London in 1966 to do her MRCOG even though she had no personal financial means or scholarship. This meant that she had to do sundry jobs to pay for her education and live a difficult life on a shoe string budget. A superb clinician and Surgeon par excellence she was at her best in operation theatre.

As someone who did not tolerate mediocrity she did not hesitate to call a spade a spade. She served on the faculty of Christian Medical College Vellore and University Medical College, Delhi. An accomplished singer she attained a diploma in classical music. A strong advocate of women’s self reliance she ensured that her only child Kavita acquired all the qualifications and knowledge to be known in her own right.

Amb. J C Sharma

FORMER SECRETARY (POLICY PLANNING, CONSULAR & DIASPORA)
MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
A truly multi-faced personality, Mr. J C Sharma had outstanding achievements as a soldier, diplomat and scholar. He began his professional career as a Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army (1967-72) and was awarded the “Sena Medal” for Gallantry in 1971 Indo-Pak war.

Mr Sharma joined the elite Indian Foreign Service in 1972 and had served as First Secretary (Consular & Political) and First Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Embassies in Tokyo and Jakarta respectively. He gave a new direction to India’s commercial relations with Indonesia. Most of the Indian joint ventures in Indonesia were established during his tenure. Indian promoters greatly appreciated valuable advice and support extended by him as First Secretary (Commercial). He also organised Indee 79, the biggest ever exhibition of Indian engineering products in Asia.

A brilliant organizer, Mr Sharma was Director (Protocol) for the 7th Non-Aligned Summit and the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Delhi in 1983. He belonged to a breed of diplomats who enjoy challenges. He volunteered to be India’s Head of Mission in Phnom Penh during the most difficult period of 1982-84. He served as India’s Consul General in Vancouver (1984-88) when it was the nerve center of activities in support of terrorist movement in Punjab. He was also one of the most successful Ambassadors of India in Vietnam (1989-92).

On his return to Headquarters in August 1992, Mr. Sharma served as a Joint Secretary for the Gulf region and OIC Affairs till October 1993. He acquired expertise in the issues concerning three million strong Indian Diaspora in the Gulf region.

Recognizing his flair for developing commercial relations, he was deputed to the newly created post of Joint Secretary (Defense Exports) in the Department of Defense Production. He prepared the first blue print for Defense Exports from India. He also prepared the plans for the first Aero India in Bangalore, which has now emerged as one of the premier Air Shows of Asia. During this period he also served on the Board of Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), a large public sector undertaking manufacturing defense and earth moving equipment and railway coaches. He gave a major push to BEML’s export efforts and helped open several new markets for its products.

Mr. Sharma had a highly successful tenure as Consul General of India in Chicago (1996-2000) where he succeeded in substantially raising the profile of Mid-West region in Indo-US relations. He paid special attention to development of commercial relations with the mid-west region.

Recognizing his expertise on Indian Diaspora, Mr. Sharma was appointed the Member Secretary of the High Level Committee on Indian Diaspora. The 600-pages Report of this Committee authored by him now provides the blue print for India’s engagement with its 20 million strong Diaspora. Mr. Sharma was also the Member Secretary of the Organizing Committee for the 1st and 2nd Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Indian Diaspora Day) celebrations. His networking skills, excellent public relations and brilliant organizational abilities were the important factors for the success of these mega events.

As Secretary in charge of Consular Passport and Visa division he introduced bold reforms to simplify the procedures and decentralize the process making it possible to file applications in District H Q and Speed Post Centers. Thanks to his vision entire 10 years data of passports is computerized and available to all Indian Missions and Passport Offices.

An erudite scholar, Mr. J C Sharma is an acknowledged authority on India’s cultural relations with South East Asia. He has authored two highly acclaimed books titled “Temples of Champa in Vietnam” and “Hindu Temples in Vietnam” on this subject. These are the first two books ever to be written in the English language on the temples of the ancient kingdom of Champa. He was also invited in his capacity as Art Historian by world’s leading institutions like Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, Asia Society, New York, World Association of Vedic Studies, to speak on various aspects of India’s cultural relations with South East Asia.

He was conferred with Life Time achievement Award by the Global Organization for People of Indian Origin for service to the Indian Overseas Community.

After his retirement Sharma was advisor in the PHD Chamber of Commerce during its centenary year Jan 2005- to 31st Jan 2006. He is a Member of Board of Directors of Universal Cables Ltd since November, 2006. He is a Member of the prestigious Dr. L M Singhvi Foundation and the Advisory Board for Centre for Diasporic studies, North Gujarat University, Patan.

He was a member of the Selection Board of the UPSC for Civil Services in 2006.

He maintained close association with NGOs and took several initiatives to facilitate their activities in India.

Mr. Sharma took active interest in social and cultural life of Delhi. He was a member of the India International Centre, Indian National Trust for Arts & Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, Delhi, United Service Institution of India, Delhi, India Habitat Centre (Spouse member), Delhi Gymkhana Club, Roshanara Club and Noida Golf Club.

Mr. Sharma has a flair for learning foreign languages and has learnt Japanese, Bhasa Indonesia and Vietnamese.

Parijat Sharma

Parijat was born in Tokyo on 30th August 1975. Being the son of a diplomat he has had wide international exposure from his childhood and spent time in Japan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Canada. He did his BA from Hindu College, Delhi University and joined University of Illinois at Chicago. After working for two years he joined prestigious Kellogg Business School, North Western University.

Parijat is a Partner at ZS Associates with the firm’s Strategy, Transformation, and M&A Practice. His work focuses on healthcare. Parijat has led major engagements globally. He leads the firm’s intellectual capital development on the evolving nature of non-hospital care delivery sites and methods. He led the shaping of the firm’s Covid-19 response.

Parijat is married to Archana and has a daughter Trayi and son Viraat.

Archana Rana is mom to two school going kids and is passionate about making education accessible to all children. She is on the board of Math Circles of Chicago. Professionally she works at Mars Incorporated leading their Global HR Operations Strategy and HR Digital agenda. Globally.. Having spent half her life in India and United States she considers herself to be a global citizen. In her free time, she enjoying cooking foods from around the world. Archana and her family lives in Chicago.

“My name is Trayi. I’m 15 years old and I live in the US. Some things I love are my family, biking, playing squash and dogs.”

Molshree Sharma

Molshree “Molly” A. Sharma is a partner at Feinberg Sharma PC, a family law firm with offices in Chicago, IL. She handles complicated family law matters that require high-level financial experience with assets in real estate, investment accounts, business valuations, tax and retirement benefits.  She has a special expertise in handling international custody disputes and Hague convention cases, a treaty with over 90 signatory countries which resolves issues of child abduction and jurisdiction. Molly was honored by being named to Chicago’s 2019 Notable Minority in Accounting, Consulting & Law List and Chicago’s 2018 Notable Women Lawyers list. She is also a four-time recipient of the Illinois Super Lawyer Rising Star award, and a six-time recipient of the Leading Lawyers Emerging Lawyer award.  Molly is widely published in the American Bar Association Journal, Illinois Bar Association Journal, Family Lawyer Magazine, Springers book on International Family Law and Westlaw’s Strategies in Family Law.  She has lectured at conferences all over the world in cutting edge family law matters from universities in London, Tel Aviv, Rio and New Delhi.

James Hegberg is a copyrighter and has a specialization in Search Engine Marketing. He has worked for prestigious publishing houses and is a well regarded professional in Digital Marketing and Advertising professional with many years of progressive in-house and agency experience in SEM/PPC Management, SEO Strategy, Paid Social Media, Affiliate Networks, Amazon Advertising, Product Feed Management and Third-Party Partnerships. Demonstrated success in efficiently managing budgets across channels to exceed ROI goals for multiple industries and objectives. Devised successful strategies and processes for every stage of e-commerce business cycle. Strong background and skilled in Copywriting, Content Strategy, Creative Direction and User Experience.   James has had an impressive theater career especially in Austin Texas

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