Dr Bramah N Singh, a world-renowned cardiologist and long-time Professor of Medicine,
died at his home in Encino, CA, on September 20. He was 76 years old and is survived by his wife Roshni Singh, two sons (Dr Pramil Singh and Dr Sanjiv Singh), daughter (Dr Nalini Singh) and four siblings (Vimla Singh, Dr Nirbhay Singh Dr Yadhu Singh, and Urmila Singh).
Dr Bramah pioneered a novel classification system used by researchers and clinicians worldwide to study and develop anti-arrhythmic medications.
Outstanding Research
In addition, ground-breaking studies which he conducted early in his career at Oxford University in Oxford, England, enabled identification of a new class of anti-arrhythmic drugs which became some of the most widely used anti-arrhythmic drugs in history.
A University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) from 1980 to 2009, he also served as Chief of Cardiology from 1988 to 1996 and a Staff Physician and Cardiac Researcher at the VA Hospital in West Los Angeles until his retirement in 2009.
He has held a UCLA Emeritus title since 2009.
Dr Bramah was a leading expert on arrhythmias and the pharmacology involved in controlling and treating the severe irregular heart rhythms that affect millions of people. His distinguished career spanned several continents and five decades.
Fijian New Zealander
Born in Fiji in 1938, he graduated from Medical School at the University of Otago (New Zealand) in 1963. He completed a medicine residency at Auckland Hospital, and a cardiology fellowship at Greenlane Hospital.
In 1969, Dr Bramah was awarded the Nuffield Travelling Fellowship and as a doctoral candidate at Oxford University in Oxford. Working with the esteemed E M Vaughan Williams, he identified the anti-arrhythmic properties of two medications, Amiodarone and Sotalol.
“Since many anti-arrhythmic drugs have multiple modes of action, this early classification system was very helpful in guiding research and patient care,” Dr Kalyanam Shivkumar, Professor of Medicine and Radiology and Director, UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Centre said.
Dr Bramah’s pioneering work with anti-arrhythmic drugs and his work targeting heart disease resulted in more than five hundred publications and book chapters. He was invited to lecture and teach at medical schools all over the world.
He mentored hundreds of young physicians who studied under him or with him, inviting them into his labs, clinics, departments, and his home.
Dr Bramah served as Nuffield Demonstrator in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford and as an International Postdoctoral US Public Health Service Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston. In 1972, he returned to New Zealand as a Senior Lecturer in Medicine and Therapeutics at Auckland University of Medicine and Consultant Cardiologist at Greenlane Hospital.
Memorial Service
A memorial service remembering Dr Bramah’s life and major contributions to cardiology is being planned for early 2015 to enable some of his colleagues from around the world to attend. It will likely be held in March 2015 when a meeting of the American College of Cardiology will be held in San Diego, California.
Editor’s Note: The above is an edited version of a posting made on the website of the UCLA Newsroom, sent to us by Prem Prasad, wife of former Labour MP Dr Rajen Prasad. This news item has been published here with the permission of UCLA.
