Dr Nori Dattatreyudu and Four Others Conferred with Padma Awards

Key facts

• Dr Nori Dattatreyudu, an Indian American radiation oncologist and pioneer in brachytherapy, was announced as a recipient of the Padma Bhushan.
• Dr Nori Dattatreyudu, who received the Padma Shri in 2015, was appointed advisor to the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments in 2025 for cancer care.
• Telugu actor Gadde Rajendra Prasad was conferred with the Padma Shri for his four-decade career in cinema and his performance in the international project Quick Gun Murugun.
• Garimella Balakrishna Prasad was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri for composing music for over 1,000 Annamacharya keerthanas and serving as Asthana Vidwan for Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).
• Prof Vempati Kutumba Sastry, former Vice-Chancellor of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, received the Padma Shri for his contributions to Sanskrit scholarship and global promotion of the language.
• Maganti Murali Mohan, a former Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), was awarded the Padma Shri for his contributions to Telugu cinema and philanthropy.
• Dr Nori Dattatreyudu was the first physician in the United States to work with a computerised brachytherapy system and received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2014.
• Prof Vempati Kutumba Sastry served as the president of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies and presided over world conferences in Edinburgh, Kyoto, Bangkok, and Vancouver.