Chitra Krishnan Awarded The Transverse Myelitis Association 2004 Distinguished Service Award

The award was made at the symposium in Baltimore. The following speech was given by Sandy Siegel at the award ceremony.

A woman in Europe who was diagnosed with transverse myelitis in the mid 1990s is experiencing a serious recurrence of symptoms. She goes to the hospital, but the physicians are uncertain of the cause her exacerbation. They send me their medical records. I send the records to Chitra. Chitra takes over. She has all of her medical records reviewed at the Johns Hopkins TM Center and then initiates a dialogue between Dr. Kerr and the physicians in Europe who are treating this woman. The woman receives a diagnosis of MS. Chitra then follows back with me so that I have information to communicate to the patient and her family.

There is a little boy in the United States; 18 months old and just two days from the onset of TM. He is totally paralyzed from the neck down and on a ventilator. The parents get in touch with me and I call Chitra and give them the parent’s cell phone number. Chitra calls the parents who are at the hospital and begins the coordination of care for this little boy between his pediatric neurologists the Johns Hopkins TM Center.

I am getting the newsletter ready for publication and I need articles from three physicians at Johns Hopkins. I call Chitra and ask her to help me extract the articles. Chitra works with these people all day. She sees them working from early in the morning until late at night and seven days a week. They are constantly juggling the demands of caring for patients, teaching, doing rounds and research; and every once in a while, these people try to see their families. I ask Chitra to begin to hound these people for my articles; the articles that they have no time to even think about, let alone write. But she does. In her very diplomatic and charming way, she cajoles and hounds until I have my articles for the newsletter.

I want to publish an article that was previously published in a medical journal; Chitra, contacts the publishers for me so that I can get permission to reprint the articles. I am working on a research project and have hundreds of concepts that need to be categorized for coding. I send Chitra the files to review and to help me develop into meaningful categories. Chitra spends hours and hours doing this review and sorting for me.

Chitra is not employed by me or the TMA, but Chitra is on call for our community seven days a week. I call her at the office all day long. I call her on Saturday nights and I call her on Sunday mornings. She never answers the phone, “Oh, crap, it’s you.”

Chitra never says no. Chitra does run away to Bombay on occasion, but she never says no.

Chitra serves the TMA and the TM community in so many ways. Her impact and her service to our community are truly extraordinary. I know that when Chitra came to the Johns Hopkins TM Center, she was thinking she was taking employment at a job. The idea that Chitra is working at a job has long since disappeared. Chitra’s work is about her ideals, her values and her heart. Chitra isn’t about making a living. Chitra has joined the crusade. I can see it in her eyes when we are talking about a sick child, or an adult who is suffering with severe depression or with horrible pain. I hear it in her voice when we are sharing our disappointments about not being awarded a grant for a study or for one of our workshops.

Her enthusiasm for her work is about the people. She loves the people in the TM community – the people who have TM, their families, and the medical professionals who care for this community. It would be difficult to find a person as bright and creative as Chitra. It would be difficult to find another person who is as highly motivated as Chitra. It would be a challenge to find another person who is as organized and as good a communicator as Chitra. But it would be absolutely impossible to find another person who brings the heart and spirit that Chitra brings to her work.

Chitra does work for the Johns Hopkins TM Center. She is a wonderful researcher. She is an exceptional writer and speaker. She is incredibly well organized. She has an amazing ability to communicate with people with sensitivity and kindness.

Chitra does it all. She works tirelessly for the Johns Hopkins TM Center and the TMA.

There is no way to measure her contributions in hours worked, or grant applications prepared, or studies conducted, or articles written, or patients cared for, or symposia coordinated, because while this is all of what Chitra does, what makes her so special is not what she does, but how she does it. Chitra does this work, because she loves what she’s doing, and more importantly, she loves who she is doing this work for.

Chitra has worked for over a year to prepare for this symposium. She has been involved in the coordination of every detail of the work from developing the program agendas, to inviting the presenters, to applying for funding, to negotiating the hotel contract, to arranging travel plans, to ordering meals. It is an absolutely enormous job that requires tremendous time and effort to do well. And Chitra only does things well.

The Transverse Myelitis Association is proud to have Chitra on our Medical Advisory Board. We appreciate Chitra’s very generous contributions of her creativity, skill, experience and intellect to the very challenging medical, social and emotional issues that surround our community. And most of all we are grateful for Chitra’s devotion and care and love for our community.

We love you, Chitra, and we are pleased to award you with the first and the 2004 TMA Distinguished Service Award.