Shanti Gandhi

Shanti Gandhi, born on 10 February 1940, is an Indian-born American cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon. He arrived in the United States in 1967 as a medical graduate of the University of Bombay and began his American career as an intern at a hospital in Youngstown, Ohio, at a time when heart surgery was still in its infancy; the hospital lent him the money for his airfare. In 1978 he was invited by a hospital in Topeka, Kansas, to start the heart surgery program at St. Francis Hospital, and he later worked at Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka, from which he retired as a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon in 2010. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1975. After his surgical career he served one term in the Kansas House of Representatives for the 52nd District, from 2013 to 2015. He is a great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi but asked that the media not mention this during his 2012 campaign, saying he simply wanted to be known as a heart surgeon, father and friend.