Dr.Rajam was the pioneer in the field of Venereology. He was born on 9th January 1893. He had a brilliant academic career and was awarded the coveted Johnstone Gold Medal of Madras Medical College. After a short period in the Army Medical Service, he took up Madras Provincial Medical Service in 1920. He had dedicated his life to Venereology for nearly five decades after acquiring his M.S., and M.R.C.P. (Edin) degrees. His oft-repeated sermon to the staff and students was “Patients should be given human attention wherever they are, either in out patient dept. or in the wards, with special emphasis on prophylaxis and rehabilitation”. This reveals the quality of man and Doctor in him. He was the member of expert committee of W H O on V.D. and Treponematoses for many years. In 1953 he was elected as Fellow of Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh and 1959 as FRCS for his out standing work and contribution to the medical field. He was the founder member of Indian Academy of Medical Sciences. He was the first Dean of Govt. General Hospital and Madras Medical College from 1948 to 1952 and founder Director of the Institute of Venereology from 1952 to 1958.

    In recognition of his excellent services rendered to the profession and to the speciality, during Celebrations of his Centenary year in 1993, IASSTD had resolved to conduct an oration in the name viz., “Dr.R.V.Rajam Endowment Oration” which is to be delivered by an eminent speaker, either National or International, at the National Conference of IASSTD every year.

     Dr.R.V.Rajam Endowment Lecture:

    Apart from the Oration two other lectures viz., “Dr.R.V.Rajam Endowment Lectures”, by eminent speakers, are conducted annually at various places in India by the Association.

     The following stalwarts have delivered the Oration since its inception:

    1993 17th CALCUTTA Dr. Sardarilal
    1994 18th CHIDAMBARAM Dr.B.M.S. Bedi
    1995 19th CHANDIGARH Dr.G.C. Saha
    1996 20th ALLAHABAD Sr.S.K. Hira
    1997 21st CHENNAI Dr. Patrick
    1998 22nd MUMBAI Dr.S.R. Salunke
    1999 23rd VISAKHAPATNAM Dr.K.V. Rama Raju
    2000 24th CHANDIGARH Dr.R.V. Ramana Rao
    2001 25th JAIPUR Dr.B.S.N. Reddy
    2002 26th NEW DELHI Dr.N. Usman
    2003 27th VADODARA Dr. Krishna Ray
    2004 28th JABALPUR Dr.D. Narayana Reddy
    2005 29th KOLKATA Dr. Ratish Basu Roy
    2006 30th CHENNAI Mrs. Sujatha Rao
    2007 31st RHOTAK Dr. Mukul Sharma
    2008 32nd Kodaikanal Dr. Veerapal Chandeying
    2009 33rd Khajuraho Dr. G. Samaram
    2010 34th Vijayawada Dr.P. Rambabu
    2011 35th New Delhi Dr. Chavalit Mangkalaviraj
    2012 36th Kochi Dr.V.K. Jain
    2013 37th Mysore Maj.Gen. A.K. Jaiswal
    2014 38th Chandigarh Dr.(Brig)Sanjeev Vaishampayan
    2015 39th Coimbatore Dr. P.N. Sashidharan
    2016 40th Bhopal Dr Manju Bala
    2017 41st Bhubaneswar Dr. Sanjeev Handa
    2018 42nd New Delhi Dr.C.Venkatesan
    2019 43rd Kodaikanal Dr.Jayadev Betkeurer
    2022 46th Hyderabad Dr. Deepika Pandhi
    2023 47th Kolkata Dr. Seema Sood
    2024 48th New Delhi Dr. Bhumesh Kumar. K